The Twelve Chaos
by Nathan Rodriguez
Summary: A thousand years ago, twelve people with abnormal powers given to them by a wide variety of sources like elves, titans, even the Devil himself, fought against an evil that wanted to rule the planet for destruction. The fight caused the two sides to be sealed away for a thousand years. That prophecy is finally over with, and twelve new humans take the role. This is The Twelve.


Chapter 1: My teacher's a bird?

Hello, my name is Nathan Rodriguez. I'm currently an eighth grader at Ramona Middle School in La Verne California. Before I get to the actual point on what this stories about, I want to explain the situation at hand. This story takes place in the year 2011, and over the past years the young eyes of the United States have seen far more devastation than any other generation. Everybody talks about the end of the world, famine and diseases swarming over the land like locust, and people killing themselves because they could not cope with the demands of everyday life. It's sickening to know we live in a world with so much turmoil, and devastation to a point where they blame us. The kids! The adults of this world have grown weak, and they expect us to inherit the new world they've destroyed. It's mutiny, but hey. They're treating us like kings now. Where my story takes place is not in the physical world, but in another dimension. It's a secret that was hidden from mankind for over 1,000 years. This is the story about the Ancient Order, and their host body's called The Twelve.

I awoke. The air was awfully chill. It felt as if the world turned into a giant freezer, and then was stuffed in a humid basement, expecting to be hidden away from existence forever. However, something was different; I didn't feel like this was a part of The World, but a hidden section unreachable by any normal human being. I heard them. How many? Two. Their footsteps were loud and heavy on the—carpet? It felt like I was outside in the wilderness of a forest somewhere, but in my sight I could see bookshelves and different locations with a wide variety of biomes. The thumping feet, they're closer. I try to move. Constricted. I could see them, both male. The one on the right looked Irish, and had a dark cloak on. The other had black hair and a black beard. They stood over, watching me with space-like eyes. "Go back to sleep Nathaniel Rodriguez, it's not time yet." The Irish one said with a soft, yet forceful voice. He put his hand over my eyes, and I fell asleep.

"WAKE UP!" A voice boomed in my ear. I was so startled that I fell from the desk I was sitting at. I forgot that it was the last day of school, and my teacher Mrs. Frick normally hates it when someone falls asleep. The kids around my area started to chuckle, and my cheeks got a little red. "Good, now that you're awake and not day-dreaming about what you teens day-dream about. How about we sign yearbooks now?" She said in with a sarcastic tone. I got up from the floor, and realized that my yearbook was full of signatures. But the funny thing about the names was that none of them were in the mid-dle, and it sort of looked like a star. I didn't think much of it, so I closed my book and went to sit with my friends. "Hey Nathan, come look at this." My friend Aaron called over. He was staring out the window when I walked up to him, and I could see from his face that he was concerned on what was happening outside. "What is it?" I asked, looking at him spacing out in front of the window. He was an African-American boy whose father is Mexican. His hair was Afro like, but it was cut short. He's very placid in class, and never gets in trouble by Mrs. Frick, or any of the teachers at that matter. I wasn't cognizant of what he was looking at outside, but whatever it was the whole class was interested in it. A girl named Amanda rudely shoved me out of the way, and my only outlet to see what was happening was blocked. Mrs. Frick was pacing back and forth, almost like she was nebulous on what to do about the veiled situation. She looked at her desk, and ran towards it with amazing speed I wasn't expecting for a fifty-year-old. She reached in her desk and grabbed a necklace with some sort of eye in the shape of a diamond pendent. She squeezed it in her hand and the room vibrated in its foundation. The kids moved away from the window and I saw what was happening. The two men from my daydream, they were waiting outside. The one who told me to fall back asleep—the Irish looking one—held a giant scythe with a red ruby in it. The other held a sword made of what seemed to be black minerals.

I felt a gust of wind behind me, and the kids began to scream. I turned and saw Mrs. Frick with large bird wings, and a diamond-shaped eeye on her forehead. "Get out of the way Nathaniel!" She yelled her voice demonic and full of anger. She swiped me away with just wind, not even touching anything or me. The door flew open, and she catapulted out into the outside. I don't know what overcame me, but I knew it wasn't me who stepped outside the door and onto a war zone between my bird-teacher and two men in my dream. Mrs. Frick was a good distance away from the two men, and she hovered over the ground with her huge wings. Kids from other classrooms started to pile out of their classrooms, and they ran towards the exit. "Lucifilus, Achilles, why are you here?" Mrs. Frick stated. A blue spear appeared in her hand. "Won't you look at this Achilles? One of Chaos's spawns right where the new host bodies are supposed to be. Tell me Caelidaemon; don't you know that prophecy has finally been fulfilled? The host shall be reawakened, and take down your so called leader." The one named Lucifilus stated. There was so much power in his voice that it made me shiver. I noticed he called Mrs. Frick Caelidaemon. I knew that caeli was Latin for the word "sky", and daemon was Latin for the word "demon". So in translation he called Mrs. Frick a sky-demon, so he was technically right when he called her that. Mrs. Frick growled, and got two twin swords. Lucifilus raised his scythe, and sent a rotating orb towards Mrs. Frick. I couldn't place a name for the rotating orb, but to me it was as bright as a star so that's what I'm going to call hit. Again, for a fifty-something year old teacher, Mrs. Frick moves fast with the exception that she have wings. She dodged the star that was aimed towards her, and charged with her twin swords ready to slash away at Lucifilus and Achilles.

I didn't know whom to root for at this moment. It was boring English teacher who somehow hid wings for about a whole school year, against two people with incredible powers and awesome weapons. The battle waged on, and more people started to pile out of the school. I stood in my place, but noticed one other by was on the opposite side of the battle. The boy had a red shirt on with the brand name "RVCA" written in black on, including his tan colored shorts. He had spiked in the front black hair, and had dazzling hazel eyes. His face was a tad round, but it didn't matter to me that much. I don't know what made me notice the little details; it was just something about the boy made me wonder. Have we met before? I certainly don't think so, but what is that feeling? I tried to shake the feeling off, but my head started to increasingly burn with an image of something. I saw a giant, object, falling from the sky, and then a huge explosion. I shook off the image, but it was burned in my memory for what may be the end of time. I looked closer now to the fight. Lucifilus charged toward Mrs. Frick with his scythe raised up high. He sliced it at her, but she managed to dodge it in the nick of time. She flew down towards Achilles, but he blocked her swords with his own. With his free hand, he managed to push Mrs. Frick off of him. Lucifilus came up behind her, and kicked her in the back. She slid on the pavement, and landed at the feet of the man named Achilles. "Pitiful. I expected Chaos to have stronger forces; I guess you're as weak as your leader is." Achilles stated. He raised his black-diamond sword in the air, and I turned away only to hear the hideous scream from the Caelidaemon. When I turned back around, I saw my teacher slowly get swept by the wind like dust.

"Well, now that she's been dealt with, what are we to do about the host bodies?" Achilles asked, not noticing the boy and I. Lucifilus walked around the center of the quad, and looked all around for the "host" bodies, or whatever they are. He sighed, and looked in the direction I was in. I hid behind a giant tree, still wondering what side I should be on. "I have no idea, they seem to have left the area since their auras are hidden." I looked across the quad and saw that the boy was hiding behind a building, but was peeking around the corner. Achilles shook his head, and looked up at the sky. "You do remember seeing that one boy right, your host. He was in the Library just a minute ago, do you still believe he's still in there?" Achilles asked. Lucifilus stared at him, and shrugged. "Might as well check, they can't have been wiped off from the face of human existence."

"Unless one of Chaos's spawns already dealt with them. He would have the upper-hand if that occurred."

"I highly doubt he knows prophecy is up, he probably doesn't even realize his seal has been broken."

"We should head to the Library, we will be able to contact the new host bodies from that location anyway."

They vanished into thin air, and the boy and I came out of our hiding places. I look around at the destruction from the battle. Giant holes where exploding stars impacted. Feathers sprawled across the pavement. It was like a very cryptic war zone. The boy was no longer there, and I looked all around for him. My head shot a very sharp pain, and I cringed to the ground. I heard them; the voices were as loud as if they were right next to me. "Hello?" The one named Lucifilus said from another dimension.

"What do you want? Who are you, why are you making this pain so unreal!"

"I'm sorry newbie, but it's something you need to get used to sooner or eventually."

"Who are you and what do you want with me?"

"Whoa, one question at a time kid! My name is Lucifilus of the Stars."

"Of the Stars? Why is that?"

"It's a long story, listen. First tell me your name."

"Not until you tell me what you want with me." I countered the comment. I wasn't going to give any personal information to a super-human that just popped up in my head. I noticed something though, as the conversation kept going, my head began to hurt less and less. "Stubborn, just like your mother."

"Don't you dare bring my mother into this."

"Why? Did I touch an inappropriate subject? Or do you prefer me to talk about your father?"

"Stop! Tell me what you want with me now, or I swear!"

"You swear what!" I looked around me, and noticed the sword of Mrs. Frick was laid across the ground like it was being presented to me. I picked it up, and held it to my neck. "Or else I'll kill myself, and let you watch the light leave my eyes!" I stated. I noticed something was different with me. I used to be a clown and now I'm threatening my own life for just a simple answer. "Pathetic kid. Fine, I'll explain." The voice stated, and an image appeared in my head.

"My name is Lucifilus of the Stars; I am a part of an organization that existed 1,000 years ago. It's called the Ancient Order." A picture of twelve people appeared in front of me, and I noticed their different features. One girl had pink hair that changed colors constantly. There was a tanned member as well, and she was female. The images of the humans started to disappear, and Lucifilus started to explain. "A great evil named Chaos wanted to take over the planet, and use it as an evil fortress for him and his army. He destroyed us one-by-one until all that was left was me." I saw Lucifilus on his knees, blood splattered all around the ground. The aura, a bright blue, was being depleted. Lucifilus looked up at me, and I saw that his eyes were rolling in the back of his head. "I gave the last prophecy that in the future, twelve new heroes called The 12 will rise again, and defeat Chaos once and for all." He stated, and the image faded in the wind. There was utter silence for the next fifteen minutes, and I could feel something bad going to happen. "Lucifilus? Are you still there?" I asked. No response. I was alone in the darkness, and it felt horrible. No one to tell me it would be all right, or hold me for comfort. I was veiled away from human existence. I tried to move my body, but could only find myself shuffling side-to-side. An image popped up, and it was horrific. I was looking at a giant building; more specifically I was looking at the White House. It had giant holes and cracks in it, and the house was burning to the ground. I looked down and noticed a puddle of blood underneath my feet. People were sprawled across the street, their lives lost due to an unknown event. I noticed what was on the top of the White House. A high throne that was dark and sinister. I cringed at the thought of what could be seated upon the throne. "Nathan… This world has two fates and two fates only. Yours and mine." A new voice spoke to me. I looked around, but found myself in more darkness. My head began to ring with a high-pitch sound. I grasped it quickly, but that did nothing to it. The voice was shrieking, and I fell to my knees. I found it surprising because a second ago I could not move. I tried to get back on my feet, but some invisible force kept me down. "Sit down and let me tell you the _real_ tale." An invisible hand grabbed my head, and forced me to look up into nothing. "So, I suggest _you're _Chaos?"

"Well I guess I am, and you are?"

"My name's Nathan Rodriguez, and from the conversation Lucifilus and I were having before you interrupted, I assume I'm a host."

"I almost feel bad for you. Having to waste your time with being a host where, if you were on my team, you could be a spirit of your own."

"Why would I go on a team that's already destined to lose? It's like being on a PE football team where the captain is not only the captain of the team, but also the math league. And if you know, captains of PE football teams are picked by the teacher and it's a total joke."

"You're very clever, I'll give you that for sure, but you're also careless. I could sense that very easily." Chaos spoke. As the villain insulted me, my mind began to take control, and I was more aware of the situation I was in. "You're very powerful, you know that right?"

"Why thank you!"

"But there's one thing you under looked for in my personality."

"Really? And what's that now Nathaniel?" I began to stand up slowly, and I could hear the invisible Chaos gasp. I looked up, and stared into Chaos's eye. "I'm no puppet." I shouted. A burst of different colored lights shined in the void, and I could hear Chaos scream a deafening scream. It was odd. When I looked up to see the lights, I could have sworn I was listening to a beautiful arrangement of classical music.

I woke up on the floor of the quad; the final bell rang that signaled the kids to be released from their classes. I noticed that half the kids from the other half of school was barely being released, where the other half that witnessed the fight were already outside. I noticed the boy again, and realized he was barely being released. My guess is that he went to his next class instead of getting out. "Nathan, are you alright?"

"Yeah, what the hell happened back there? You were talking to me, and the next thing I know is that I'm talking to the one who killed you guys 1,000 years ago."

"Yes, I'm truly sorry for that. He must have tapped into our mental communication. However, that burst of light you did shouldn't have hurt him like it did just right now. I wonder if Chaos has grown weaker then the last time we faced him."

"So you're saying that Chaos was weakened from being dormant for so long? If that's the case, then why do you still need us?"

"It's prophecy, I didn't create it, thus me unable to do what kids do on computer where you could copy and paste."

"But if you didn't create the prophecy, then who did?"

"A force far powerful then I. Nathan, it was created by the stars."

"The stars? What do you mean?"

"Didn't they teach you anything about the stars in science class?"

"I learned that if the sun exploded it would take us eight minutes to find out."

"Exactly. Stars are the past! When you stare at the dimmest, farthest star in our solar system, you are actually looking hundreds and hundreds of years into the past. Nathan, stars are time!" I thought about what my teacher Mrs. Rasmussen taught us this year in class, and something didn't add up. "You're saying stars are the past? But if they're the past, then how do you define the future from them?"

"Time, it's a very confusing subject to grasp on a normal mortal mind. I don't expect you to understand quite just yet." Lucifilus told me. I was confused and I wasn't even taught how he defines the future from the past yet. A loud voice boomed in the distance, and the kids still on the campus ran towards the front of the school. "This could be very serious, better be safe to avoid Chaos's minions before you train." I thought about what the voice had said, and decided to ignore it. As I was sprinting towards the front of the school, I noticed something what seemed to be a Henna Tattoo on my hand. I looked at it more carefully, and noticed it was a star with seven points on it. I tried rubbing it off, but my skin only tuned read around the star. "I guess the organization allows young kids to get tattoos." I noted, and ran towards the front of the school.

"What the hell man?" The voice screamed again. I noticed the same boy with the black spiky hair on the ground looking up at a blond kid with a bowl haircut. From my point of view—or everyone's to be exact—I couldn't see the blond hair boy's face. I looked at the boy on the floor, and to my surprise he looked back at me. "Are you alright?" I asked the boy. He smiled and nodded well I helped him from the floor. He had a red shirt on with brown shorts that somehow matched. "That boy, he has that aura, it's different compared to other humans." Lucifilus explained. I looked at the boy and noticed the different aura immediately. I don't know what an aura is, but whatever it was he had something different other people didn't. "What is an aura specifically?" I asked under my breath, fearing the black haired boy would hear and think I'm strange to talk to myself. I heard Lucifilus grumble when I asked the question, and he gave no response to me. "Turn around!" I commanded to the boy. I looked around and saw a circle of kids around us. The blond hair boy didn't move, even after my facile command. Instead, the boy raised his pasty hand in the air, and I looked up to see storm clouds brewing above the school. "Nathan," Lucifilus started to say. The kid finally turned around, and his face was demonic. His eyes were dark as night, leaving only his iris to be the color red. His teeth were barred with fangs pointing out. His voice was loud, and it sounded like a thousand souls being tortured in a furnace. "The Shadow 21 will rise against all who are weak!" He shouted, and lightning flashed from the clouds towards the school. I grabbed the boy's hand and began to run away from the impact. The lightning cracked open a piece of the earth, and the demon boy was nowhere to be found. I let go of the boy's hand, and noticed he was unconscious. The rest of the kids scrambled away from the impact spot leaving me to deal with the demon that was invisible.

"Lucifilus, what do I do?" I asked well dodging a punch that came out of nowhere. I looked around, but the demon seemed to have completely disappeared. "Stay on your guard, you have no idea what might happen if they defeat you." Lucifilus warned me. I looked at the boy next to me and noticed a seven-pointed star in the palm of his hand as well. "DUCK!" Lucifilus yelled and I ducked an incoming fist. Something made me punch the demon in the stomach, almost as if me becoming violent was involuntary. "Nathan, use the star! It's your only way out of this mess!" I thought about the seven-pointed star in my hand. I focused on the star and it began to glow like a light bulb. It looked exactly like the one Lucifilus had around him when he battled, very blue. Instantly, a white staff with the reddest ruby at end of it appeared in my hand. I was in awe at the sight of the staff that I dropped it on the floor. "Pick it up quickly! You can't let the enemy take control of your weapon, especially the Shadow 21." Lucifilus lashed out at me. I maneuvered my foot under the staff, and kicked it into my hand. The demon was coming at me fast, and it felt like time itself slowed down to one frames per second. I could only remember having this feeling once before. It was a long time ago, and I could hardly remember what happened.

I remember sitting in the classroom when I was in second grade, and school was just about to be over. Every day when class ended on Friday, we'll stack our chairs on the desk so the custodian could come after school and vacuum the floor. I put my chair on my desk quite firmly, and my table partner Romina—an Italian girl that I rarely talked to—placed hers on the desk just as firm. I was just about to walk away from the desk when all I hear is the sound of a heavy object falling. Without thinking I grabbed behind me, and felt as a sigh of relief came from the person sitting next to me. At that instant, when the chair was falling, I could feel time slow down up until the point I grabbed it. The girl looked at me like I was a psycho, but then was happy. "How did you do that?" She asked. She was incredibly beautiful, and I wished I had talked to her more often. I shrugged, and placed the chair firmly on the desk. Now that I look back on the incident, something was inscribed on the desk that makes me wonder. A seven-pointed star but in a circle was burnt in the desk.

"That feeling, it's something special in a person. Not everyone is born with that sort of skill, but humans have a certain feeling similar to it. It's called adrenalin. Mortals' change into a mind-set where time is either slowed, or accelerated based on the person's choice. You're special though, I just can't figure it out." Lucifilus explained. The first was coming slower, and I caught it in my hand. The demon looked at me with shocked eyes, and I smirked at what he was probably thinking. I kicked the blond hair demon in the stomach, and he fell back. There was a long pause, and it felt like the air was standing still to watch the outcome. "I have to admit," the demon was suddenly behind me and kicked me to the floor next to the boy. "You're a lot stronger then my leader suggested you'll be." I looked at the demon, and he gave me a "you're-going-to-die-now" look. I clenched my fist, and finally came into realization that I couldn't win. "No, you're not going to die! Point your staff towards the demon and say 'Star Bash'." I thought it was silly at first because bashing people with stars sounded absolutely insane. I then realized something in the sky was glowing quite brightly. My staff shimmered like the bright orb in the air, and without thinking I pointed my staff towards the demon. "Star Bash!" I yelled out almost involuntary. The glowing orb in the sky let down a ray of light around my body, and I could feel gravity shifting into my command. A force of energy was growling inside of me, and I felt almost as demonic as the boy. "What now?" I yelled at Lucifilus. He didn't respond, and I knew he wanted me to figure it out for myself.

"So, you have already figured out how to make a ray of light around yourself? How impressive." The demon stated sarcastically. The burst of energy was charging inside of me, and I couldn't hold it any longer. I screamed, and a burst of light came out of my staff and smashed into the torso of the demon. He screamed like he was in serious pain, and even through all the chaos I felt a little upset. "How dare you! Now you're going to die a more painful death then I anticipated!" The demon attempted to frighten me. To my luck, the demon was far from being jaded. I dodged a black-wing like hand that came out of his back, but he grabbed me with his normal hand. I looked into his bloodthirsty eyes and noticed a black seven-pointed star in a circle where his pupil should be. "He's been processed! Finish him now!" Lucifilus ordered, but I wasn't in the position to fight. He threw me up a tall tree, and I barely managed to get my hand around a branch fast enough. I latched onto it for dear life, but I saw the demon slowly ascending the tall Willow tree. "Come on, you don't think out little playtime is over yet do you?" The blond boy said. I looked down and realized two things. If I jump from the spot I was in I would most likely break my legs making me unable to walk and fight properly, if I say in the position I'm in and let him come and get me then he would most likely kill me, and if I reach the top I would be in a more leveled battle position to attack him. All options seemed completely impossible for me to survive, but I made my decision. "Come at me you three-armed freak!" I mocked the boy well climbing up the tall tree. "How are you accessing your physical bump-up so quickly? It took me a year to achieve that fast of climbing!" Lucifilus explained. He wasn't wrong. Before I got involved with this group, doing this climb would've been impossible. I looked down and saw the demon climbing quicker. I ran out of branches to hold because I was finally at the top. "You say for me to come at you, yet you still run away from me like a little girl!" The demon mocked. I clenched the staff in my hand, and focused on what I needed to do. The demon was halfway towards me, and my grip started to get sweaty. "Calm yourself, put your mind in that mental mindset and just reacts to whatever he throws at you." Lucifilus reassured me.

"Tonight you go to hell!" The demon shouted, reaching for me with his wing-like hand. The feeling returned, and I looked to my left towards another tree. Without thinking I jumped off the thick branch I was on, and grabbed hold of another tree. "Star Bash!" I yelled well sending another ray of light towards the demon. He dodged it, and jumped towards me. Voices were ringing in my head; some voices I have never even heard yet. The high-pitched noise from the vision was back again, and my mind was slowly losing sanity. "They lied to you, they're slowly deceiving your mind Nathaniel. Join me, join us to become victorious and win this demon."

"So I guess this demon and you have a rivalry? I guess he's not all that bad then."

"Don't think that everyone against my army is automatically a friend of your group. In this world you only have one friend, and that's yourself."

"You're wrong Chaos. The people I love the most and care about are my closest friends. The thousands of innocent lives that you will kill if they try to get in your way are what are closest to me. And you think you can take it in one single day?"

"I don't think. I know I can take it Nathaniel, now it's your choice whether you want me to take it in peace, or pry it out of your cold, dead hands!"

"I'm not here to gamble my life. I'm here to gamble yours."

"Curse you child and that stupid Ancient Order mind they gave you, but mark my words, you will be broken somehow. Whether or not it's from my army, or even the Shadow 21. You will come to realization of your true confused state of mind."

"ENOUGH!" I yelled, and grabbed the demon by the collar. He looked at me with wide eyes, and I smirked as I watched the calmness in his eyes leave well I forced a wave of pain to him. "I want to watch the light leave your eyes when you die!" I said throwing the demon door the huge Willow tree. I sent a rotating orb that could only be described as a star towards the demon as he fell, and both collided into the ground. There was a long moment of silence, and I waited for something in my mind to tell me it was wrong; that I never killed him yet. The moment ended and I began to climb down the branches slowly.

"Good job Nathan. Well played using your emotions to create enough power to destroy the demon." Lucifilus complimented. I felt good that an all-powerful being that lived for 1,000 years was complimenting me about my battling tactics. "However, you need to learn not to be so tense when it comes to physical fighting." He added. I thought about it, and couldn't find anything wrong when I was fighting physically. I looked down the tree I was climbing down, and realized this may take longer than I thought. "By the way, did you defeat the imp inside of the processed body?" Lucifilus asked, and my eyes shot wide open. A black claw grabbed my back, and threw me down on the floor. The smoke quickly resided, and I saw the face of the blond hair kid. He was bloody from the exploding star, and his clothes were tearing. The hand was over my neck, quickly sucking the life from my lungs. "You may have weakened me, and threw me down like I was garbage, but I swear to Netros that I will suck the life from your lungs and watch the light leave your eyes!" The demon threatened. I sucked nothingness for air, and my body began to spas out. The demon's eyes tensed up in the pure joy that I was dying slowly. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!" A familiar voice said, and the demon quickly turned to receive a sword stuck in his torso. "WHO ARE YOU?" The demon yelled, and turned away from the boy giving me access to see who the boy was. It was the kid with the black spiky hair. He was somehow awake and a seven-pointed star flashed red on the palm of his hand. The boy's sword was made out of pure diamond; the strongest mineral found on the Earth. "I don't think it would matter for you considering you'll be dead in a little while!" The boy suggested, and sliced his sword towards the demon. The demon dodged it, but then was kicked by the black haired boy. I got up slowly, and grabbed my staff next to me. "Help him now!" Lucifilus yelled at me, and I threw a star right in time. The demon held the boy with his shadowy hand, and was slowly sucking the life out of his as he did with me. The demon was hit with the star head-on, and evaporated into darkness. The boy fell to the ground gasping for every possible breath he could get. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, how about you?"

"Good." The conversation was very quick, and I sat on the ground next to him as he gasped for breath. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"I don't know at this point. All I remember is hearing a voice giving me a command to activate this:" He showed me his seven-pointed star, and it only felt right to show him mine. "So you're in it too? What's your name?" He asked, and I told him my name. "My name's Nathan Rodriguez, you?" I asked, and he gave me the question I so longed for. "My name's Daniel Barnes, but everyone calls me Danny."

Chapter 2: Training Begins

"So what do we do now?" I asked the boy who I just met a couple of minutes ago. He shrugged, and then looked towards space like there was some answer there. "It seems like a very bad dream, but I know from the pain the demon caused to me that it isn't." Danny explained. I looked at him, and in his eyes I could see the pain like a bad burden. It slowly corrupted his body until he felt completely miserable with himself. "Enough feeling bad for ourselves, we have to somehow talk to Lucifilus and Achilles. One-on-one, face-to-face talk with them." I suggested, and the seven-pointed star on my hand began to glow a bright blue again. "It's called The Library." Danny and I were in the void where I was a couple of hours ago, and we looked at Lucifilus and the one called Achilles. "The Library, what's that?"

"The Library is a complicated area. It not only consists of a library where we keep special documents on the Ancient Order, Shadow 21, and Chaos. However, this is only a small section in The Library. The Library is basically a whole other world apart from Earth. It has different biomes, and is as big as the Earth, maybe even forever. We never really checked how big The Library is, or what really is out there, but we know it's something big." Lucifilus suggested. The void changed back to the school, and I looked at the shocked Danny. "Weren't those the people who killed that one bird-lady?" He asked. I nodded in agreement, and looked at the seven-pointed star in my hand. "Now… How do we get to The Library is a better question." I stated. I do remember Lucifilus and Achilles talking about The Library when they were done facing Mrs. Frick, but I thought it was the actual school library so that's why I avoided it. "Lucifilus, how do we get into The Library?"

"You need to get into The Library mentally, you're not ready for physical teleportation yet."

"What's the difference?"

"When you're physically teleported into The Library, it takes the powers of my host and I. Physical teleportation not only takes your mind, but it also takes your body. However in mental teleporting, you focus on the burdens in your life, and let them flow in a river where they get collected and thrown away in your mind. It's a great therapy session as well." Lucifilus explained. I looked at the boy named Danny, and from the look on his face I could see that he was confused. "What the heck does that mean?" He asked. I grabbed both his hands to sit him down on the ground Indian-style. "What he means is that we have to clear our minds of all the pain and misery in our lives, and focus on the destination we want to get to." I said, closing my eyes slowly. I remembered all the pain in my life. My parents separating when I was at such a young age. The confusion of what I really am inside of me. The constant cutting that burn the blood with the blade. So much pain comes from my life, but it all results in the blade on my wrist, cutting away life after life. I let it all flow down in the river.

"Nathan?" I heard a voice say in front of me. I opened my eyes and saw that I was in the center of a giant room. It was in the shape of a circle, and in front of me was Danny standing up. I heard the footsteps again, but I refused to turn around at my Spirit. "So you two made it? Please, come." Lucifilus said. His face was veiled from me well he was turning the other direction. Danny began to walk, but he then noticed that something was wrong with me. "Are you alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were out cold for quite some time before waking up. At first I thought you were dead."

"I'm okay… Kind of."

"I noticed the cuts; they shine with the star." I looked down at my wrist and noticed the slash marks were glowing a bright blue. I then looked back at Danny and saw that his eyes were filled with concern. "I don't need some kid telling me how to live my life, alright?"

"I never said anything about you living your life they way you wanted to. If you want to cut, you cut; just don't come crying to me when you realize how much the pain really hurts." He stated. I didn't even know him that well and we already got into our first argument. Danny began to walk with Lucifilus and Achilles, leaving me behind to collect my thoughts on what just had happen. The horrible pain came back at me again, and the room transitioned to the void again.

In the void I could see all the things that happened in the past play out like a movie. And what two people had the first row seats watching the movie? Chaos and I, that's who. He was laughing hysterically as he watched himself kill the Ancient Order one-by-one on an endless loop. It was sickening the way he killed them. Each of his deaths bloodier and more gruesome then the other. "Isn't this so enjoyable Nathaniel? Watching these random people you don't even know die in my hand. Watching the blood dripped from their wounds, and the light leave their eyes!"

"You're a sick monster! I'm going to make sure what you did all those years ago will not happen ever again!"

"Says you, I'll enjoy the light leaving your eyes the most!"

"And I'll be sure to enjoy to watch your darkened heart being stabbed straight out of cold, dead body."

"You certainly are funny Nathaniel, I wonder how your dad would react to it, that is, if he's still alive." My eyes widened, and I wanted to grab Chaos, but he was only smoke. "What do you mean my father's not alive?"

"Oh, did I say that out loud? I'm sorry Nathaniel, but-"

"Don't give me none of this crap anymore Chaos, tell me where my father is now!" The smoke began to leave my hand, and the void was slowly changing to a new scene. I was in some kind of house, and to my left was the carnage of a massacre. "Watch as your past slowly eats your future apart." I heard Chaos whisper into my ear. Three men were laid on the floor next to me, including a man, a woman, and a little girl. Two of the men had their skulls crushed together, bones and brains were scattered around the floor. The other had his face completely burnt off from his head in a horrible way. The family had gunshot wounds in their torso except for the father who had a shot in the back of his head. Blood spilled on my shoes, and I heard a noise behind me. I turned and saw a kid that was familiar somehow. In his hand was a bloody knife, and his wrist showed what he used the knife for. The word repent was written on his arm, and tears of blood came out of his darkened eyes. He stared right at me, but I know that I was invisible to him. The door swung open behind me, and I turned back around to see the boy's reaction but he was not there. The police charged into the building, only three. Their boots were heavy on the wooden floor, and they stepped over the carnage with caution. They inspected the bodies for a brief moment, took notes, and put stuff off the corpses to analyze for D.N.A substances. "Obviously we have a story here." One of the police officers said. He has a chubby figure, his head was slightly oval like, and you could tell he had a bald spot even though he was wearing a hat. "Not just a story, but two stories." Another officer said. He had a slightly bulked body, and his hair was young and fresh. "We have stab wounds and gunshot wounds at the same time. These are two different types of death going on at the same night."

"What are you saying?" The third officer said. He was in between the two when it came to body mass, but he had the most dazzling green eyes. "I'm saying," The bulk one began well he rose from the ground after looking at a wound. "The killer is still in this house…" A thud upstairs made the officers jump, and I was teleported to the top of the stairs where I saw the same boy waiting for the officers to come. "Everyone has multiple choices they could choose from when it comes to situations Nathaniel." The sound was ripped from my ears, and all I could hear was Chaos narrating well the scene pressed forward. The officers ran to the foot of the stairs with their guns held towards the boy. "But the decisions we make effect the outcome in multiple ways, and it's up to us to cope with the revelation of our choices whether they are good or bad." He stated. I watched in slow motion as the veins from the boy's arms and head began to pulsate, almost bulging out of his skin. The cops, they fired when the boy was climbing the rail downstairs, but the bullets bounced off the boy's skin like it was armor. He jumped on the first policeman, and squashed his face with his bare hand. The floor was decorated with blood and brains. "This is disgusting!" I shouted! He then jumped on the other policeman, and grabbed his face. His hand then sparked into a dark purple flame, and burnt the man's face off. The third fired his gun, but the bullet bounced harmlessly off his torso. The boy slit the man's throat with the knife he still had in his hand, and more blood spilled on the floor. After the boy killed the last officer, he ran into the words with the blood of other people still soaked on his shirt. The scene faded, and I was back in the void with tons of questions swerving around in my head. "What was that?" I asked the dark fog. Even though I couldn't see Chaos's face—with the exception of his eyes that were red little dots at the top of the fog—I could still see he was grinning evilly at my reaction. "Just a little ancestral background." Chaos explained. The boy, he looked like me, but wasn't me. "It would all be explained in due time Nathaniel, and when it does I'd be your only source for answers." The void changed back to The Library, and Danny was in front of me. "Are you alright?" He asked well picking me off the ground. I dusted the invisible pieces of dust off my clothes, and nodded shyly. "Listen, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I don't even know you completely and I already snapped at you." He said with desperation in his voice. I felt bad for the boy. I knew he was a year younger then me, but the way he acts is so mature. For a second, if you don't look directly at him, you could believe he is an adult. "You had every right to Danny; everyone is entitled to their own opinions."

"Yeah but-"

"No buts. What I do is wrong, and is something that will lasts forever in my head. Some can control it, but not me." I explained. I could see from his face that he was getting a little uncomfortable, so I decided to stop the conversation and walked in the direction I thought Lucifilus and Achilles went. "Uhh, Nathan?" I turned and saw Danny pointing to another walkway. I felt a little embarrassed. "Right." I said, and walked with Danny to the Spirits.

We found ourselves in a giant stone stadium with high pillars that could easily hide a person, or just climb on top of it for aerial attacks. A giant wooden gate closed behind us, and Lucifilus and Achilles were in the stands watching us. "What is this?" I asked, touching an image on side of the pillars. It was a giant sea serpent, and from the texture of the pillars I could feel the slimy scales. "This is when training begins! You would be put under test if you could acquire the right strength, dexterity, intelligence, and luck."

"If you pass then you're going to be the founders of The 12."

"But if you fail, God help you both." Achilles stated. I didn't really like the idea of actual leaders in the group; I thought everyone should be equal, but apparently they think otherwise. "First test, strength!" Dark fog appeared in the field making impossible to even see the pillar I was touching. I noticed dark figures in the smoke, but they appeared for only seconds then vanished. I could still feel Danny besides me, and noticed his diamond sword out. I quickly activated my staff and the test began. I felt something grab my leg from behind me, but I knocked the away before it could drag me. "Star Bash!" I yelled, and released a beam of light to the already down villain. I looked to the right of me, and saw Danny on the floor being dragged away as his nail tried to find a place to grip onto. I blasted away the shadow gripped onto Danny, and pulled him up. "Are you okay?" He nodded, and the second raid came towards us. They surrounded us in a circle, at least eight of them. Their faces were skull-like, staring straight at me with empty eyes. The fog rolled on by, and I was beginning to get mad at Lucifilus. "That's it!" I sent a circle of light around us, and stretched it towards the beasts. They were knocked backwards, but were not dead yet. "Interesting, but not quite the right remedy. Let me try." Danny said. He ran towards a skull-face directly in front of him, and lashed his sword forwards. A bright light was at the tip of the diamond sword, and it went through the skull's body. "I don't expect you're going to get very far with one simple attack for each opponent." I told Danny. I swung my staff like a sword and managed to get three skull people. Danny got rid of the rest, and we noticed the fog fading from the arena.

"Your strength, both of your guys' strength is unbelievable. Strength training complete, are you ready for your next test?" Achilles asked. I looked at Danny and noticed he was jus as tired as I was. Lucifilus noticed this, and automatically started the test. "Can't you see we need a break?" I asked well the stadium opened up. O looked down the pit and saw a giant lava lake at the bottom. Stepping-stones rose from the pit, and they placed themselves about two feet apart. "Yes, I see both of you are very tired, but when it comes to fighting you could NEVER be tired!" Lucifilus explained. I sighed and Danny gave me a scarred look. "You think this is what they meant if we failed?" He asked. I shrugged and looked back down at the lava. The amount of heat the pit was giving could be felt from the surface. I heard footsteps on a rock pavement, and I looked up to see Danny starting the test. "Hey! This is actually very fun!" Danny joked, and kept jumping the stones like it was a game. "Are you insane? Slow down!" I said making my first step. As I jumped on the stone, it floated down a bit making me scared and hesitant about taking my next jump so quickly. Danny kept jumping however, sometimes even skipping two stones at a time I tried to catch up, but every time I landed I was hesitant of the next jump. "Coe on, you're being so slow!" Danny mocked. Something wasn't right. I could clearly see something appear on the stepping-stone in front of Danny, and it's only when he stepped on it when I realized what it was: a picture of the same eye that was on Mrs. Frick's necklace. "Danny! Get off of that one!" My screams were then shattered by the sound of falling rock. The adrenaline came back again, and I jumped the rocks with amazing speed. Danny was halfway down the pit, and I jumped off the stepping-stone I was on, and jumped downwards with all the force in the upper part of my body. In my head I could hear Chaos laughing at me as the extreme heat blanketed me. I quickly snatched Danny out of midair, and looked up the pit. "Teleport, quickly!" Lucifilus suggested. I pointed my staff, and a bright light blinded me. I landed at the foot of Lucifilus and Achilles, and noticed that the stadium turned back to the library section. "Are you two alright?" Lucifilus asked. The Spirits helped us to our feet, and they gave us a cup of tea to calm our nerves. "Yes, what was that?" Danny asked. I completely forgot that Danny didn't know who or what Chaos is. I looked at Lucifilus and saw him in deep though. "I don't see how Chaos could break into The Library, unless. And I hope I'm wrong when I say this, maybe The Library's defenses were weakened when we brought you two in." Lucifilus explained. It made sense, bringing two unknown entities into a new dimension. It was sort of like a computer network. When you put two unknown programs in, of course it would cause some complications to the network itself. Now repairing the network itself is not easy, and sometimes impossible. "Are you telling me that he controls The Library?"

"Partially. He controls it to a bare minimum. See, we predicted someone would want to get into The Library to control us, so we built a large barrier around it. The Library could be disassembled, and places into another dimension, but it would require a huge amount of energy." Lucifilus explained. I looked at Danny who was still trying to wrap his brain around the idea that this is real. "So, he controls apart of The Library that we can't control anymore."

"Yes, however we can still control it, but it requires more energy then we needed before he captured it. But, if he knows that this is a weak spot, I wonder how long until he realizes there are more weak spots." A huge boom came from a great distance, and once that happened it was completely quiet. "What was that?" I asked. Right when I spoke, something huge screamed from behind a bookshelf. There was a huge crash behind me, and I had no time to look and see what it was. I could hear the flapping of wings behind me, and felt the ground beneath me being ripped into a void of nothingness. "Run faster!" Lucifilus yelled as he ran in front of me. I felt a wave of fire scorching the tip of my hair. I felt a hand grab my own, and pushed me forwards. I looked, and noticed Achilles' hand grabbing my wrist to keep me moving forward. I looked behind me, and saw the beast that was chasing us; a dragon with dark metallic scales, green piercing eyes, and blood dripping from his teeth only wanting to quench his thirst for more. I quickly turned my head back around, and started to run faster than everyone else. Bits of wood were plowing in front of us, and I avoided it by using my staff to deflect the debris. This moment was probably the scariest in my life, and I knew that from this point on it would only get scarier.

I didn't know what to do, and I doubt even the Spirits knew how to deal with this situation. My staff started to glow brightly in my hand, but I brushed the idea of fighting to the side. "What are you doing? Its only instinct you should fight!"

"I know, but fighting isn't the way to solve this!" I yelled back. I didn't know what to do instead of run, and I didn't want to do anything else. I looked to the left of me and noticed a small hallway that lead back to the center of The Library. I knew that if we didn't act quickly then we might as well lose. I grabbed everyone's hand, and teleported in front of the hallway. They all got the idea I was getting at, and ran down the hall towards the center. The dragon roared above us, and I was running quicker than before. The ground beneath me was being torn apart, and I could see the center in front of me. Everyone was in front of me, and of course I was the last. The hallway was completely torn from the center, and I jumped broken pieces of earth to get to the center. The dragon kept ramming through The Library, giving us little time to strategize on a plan. "Why didn't you fight when your aura was activated?" Lucifilus asked.

"It just didn't feel right! I know we're supposed to fight whenever our spirit feels like it, but something about this fight makes me want to be smart about things. Now think, how are we going to get rid of this thing?" I asked. Lucifilus smiled at me, and stretched his hand in front of him. "Easy," he said summoning his scythe. "We beat the crap out of it." He mocked the dragon. Achilles smiled at Lucifilus, and summoned his dark-diamond sword. I nodded, and noticed something shining in the corner of my left eye. A diamond sword glistened in Danny's hand, and I looked at the ruby on my staff. In the reflection it was not me, but the boy who killed the police officers. The dragon roared from behind a bookshelf, and smashed it to pieces. "Attack!" Lucifilus said well he sent a star towards the giant dragon. I noticed the green eyes; they were forest like. The dragon roared, and I was frozen for a brief second well a new voice clouded my mind. He sounded demonic, but not as demonic as Chaos sounded. He almost sounded like the blond hair boy, but of course he was more of a man. "Hello, Nathaniel. It's been a long time hasn't it?" He asked. At first I looked around to see who was talking, but then remembered that voices come in my head now.

"Who are you, how did you know in my name?"

"In due time Nathaniel, but I need to tell you something." The voice began to speak again. I sent a Star Bash towards the dragon, and it made a crack in the dragon's metallic scale. Lucifilus jumped up at the dragon, but was knocked back by its sharp claws. "Lucifilus!" I screamed, running towards my Spirit. Inside me I could feel something slowly dying, and it was a deep pain inside. Blood was spewing out of thin air as Lucifilus touched down on the ground. "Look around you Nathan, remember all the pain. Remember what I- I mean your father did to you! Remember all the lies people told you, remember all the pain you shed in your life, remember his name. REMEMBER YOUR FATHER'S NAME NATHANIEL!"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled. A red light exploded around me, and I could feel my pupil's shrinking. Veins bulged out of my head and arms, and my body was hunched over like a demon. I could feel the seven-pointed star on my hand twisting in a circle, and I grasped my staff tightly. I looked at Lucifilus, and could see the light slowly leave his eyes. "Achilles, take Lucifilus and set him down in one of those rooms and take care of him. Danny, get ready because this will be the fight of your life!" I commanded. I somehow felt stronger, and I know the voice in my head supplied this new energy. The dragon looked at me, and I noticed the Chaos Eye on its forehead. I could hear Chaos's voice chuckling in the dark void that was inside of my head, but I also heard the other voice trying to fight Chaos. "Leave this place Chaos, go and get ready for the final fight!" The voice spoke. I looked at the dragon, and my eyes flashed red. "Yes Chaos… Get ready!" I yelled, and sent a giant rotating ball of light that could only be described as a star. Meanwhile, Danny jumped in the air, and the tip of his blade was glowing bright orange. The two entities were working together; Danny smashed first, and the star exploded the skin of the dragon. The Chaos Dragon roared above us, and flailed its head side-to-side. It wasn't dead yet, but I could tell that it was darn close too dying. "Let me deal with this." Achilles said behind me. His dark-diamond blade was blazing with fire, and I could tell that he meant business. My staff disappeared into my skin, and I watched to see what Achilles was planning. The Chaos Dragon was oozing green blood from the places where the skin cracked, and I saw that the blood was actually acid. Achilles looked calm and cool, and his body language showed that he was not afraid. I watched this change in Achilles as my body adjusted back to its normal form, and I could the new voice talk to me again. "Don't you love how I could change your emotions and make you un-human. Oh sweet bliss." The voice stated. I saw Achilles' blade held high above his head, and I noticed a spark of red shimmering from the point. "This could be interesting." Danny suggested. Everything was happening so rapidly, I almost forgot who Danny was. Achilles roared, and as he did he was enraged into a giant flame. The flame was an ocean like blue, which I learned, was the hottest part of a fire. If the blue part were the hottest part of a fire, then how hot would it be if the whole flame were blue? I also wondered if the flames affected his skin at all since he was in he fire. Achilles screamed once more, and a pillar of blue fire arose from him, and hit space. Literally space! Above The Library were trillions of stars, and unknown planets I have never seen before. The flames had never-ending colors that constantly looped over each other, even colors I have never seen before. I know it's nearly impossible to imagine colors beyond our spectrum of light, but it was there. "Did you see that?" Danny asked. "That was, it was-

"Was something beyond what we could ever imagined? Yes, I did see it." I finished him. He made a noise in his throat that symbolized satisfaction. The flames made my hair whip in the wind, and I could feel Achilles' energy resignation from his body. "Fire!" The pillar was sucked up into the sword. "Wing!" Achilles pointed his blade towards the green-blood covered dragon. "BLAST!" Achilles sprouted the wings of a fiery phoenix, and sent a burst of colored flames towards the dragon. A strong gust of wind swept me off my feet, and I fell on the carpet and had no vision of what was going on. I looked up towards Achilles, but the colors blinded my sight to where I couldn't see the fight. I could hear the screeching of the dying lizard, and felt a giant thud on the ground. "Back to hell where you came!" Achilles shouted, and suddenly the winds stopped. My vision on the battle was slowly regained, and I saw a giant scaly arm in front of me. Sharp claws with bloodstains from previous fights were mirroring my reflection, and I backed away in horror. The head of the dragon was lodged in between bookshelves, and I saw The Library slowly change. Broken pieces of furniture were put back into place, the dragon turned to dust and was swept away, and the floors that were ripped away into existence were replaced. "Achilles, what is all of this?" I asked. He turned round from the cleaning, and stared deeply into my eyes. "Nathan, this is The Library, and I am part of the Ancient Order. And you're going to be a part of The New Twelve Order."

Achilles explained to us what The New Twelve Order was, and it made me scared to think I was going to be a part of it. I sort of had an idea why Lucifilus chose us, but Achilles gave more information that made me understand what we really are needed for. "The New Twelve Order, or The Twelve for short, is an organization Lucifilus prophesied when Chaos killed him. The prophecy stated that twelve new heroes would come, and take the title as the New Ancient Order, or The New Twelve Order for better wording. These new heroes would rise when Chaos is reborn, and destroy the evil that was unleashed again." Achilles explained. I looked at the seven-pointed star in my palm, and could see that it was turning rapidly the more I looked at it. "When Lucifilus was killed, his soul wasn't trapped inside a pod like the rest of us. He created The Library, thus it being his "pod" if you may."

"Did you guys have Spirits controlling you? Or to be more precise, were you ever the host bodies for The Ancient-ANCIENT Order?"

"Some of us do hold beings inside of us like Lucifilus holds- Uhh, never mind. But to answer your question no, we did not have Spirits like you do now." I got a little curious when Achilles refused to tell us what was inside Lucifilus, but it slowly resided when I looked down a hallway and saw a white room with little capsules. "What is that?" I asked pointing down the hallway with my staff. Achilles smiled, and waved his hand to tell us to follow him. "This," I stepped into the room and felt a soft, plush-like carpet underneath my feet. It was like stepping into an asylum, knowing I was not mentally unstable. I looked and noticed floating pods with different colored lights pulsating in the glass. Two were open, and ten were left closed. "This is the place where the Spirits dwell. This where Lucifilus activated me, and where you'll activate another one so you could be accompany by another member of The Twelve." Achilles stated. I looked at the different colors, and tried to imagine each of their personalities. "Why are they all different colors?" Danny asked. "Their colors are based on their personalities or their powers." Lucifilus said well wobbling into the room. I ran to his side to become a support for his weak side, and helped him get to a couch that was conveniently placed in the center of the room with a coffee chair in front of it. "I figured everyone's color by looking into their inner thoughts. It's technically their auras you're looking at." I stared back at the lights, and could feel them pushing me away. I looked up at the sky, and my vision began to get blurry as I stared up at the sky. My head pounded like someone's was hammering at it with a pickaxe, and I held it tightly. I fell to the ground, but Danny grabbed me before I could. My eyes closed, but I felt as if they were still open. I was dead…

Chapter 3: Through the Fire

I could still hear what was happening in The Library, but my vision was blocked by some kind of dark barrier. The last thing I remembered was looking up at the stars, and how they seemed to be dancing in a pattern. "Hello?" I heard a voice to my left. It was my own, and I was surprised to see myself standing in front of me like we were two separate beings. Something was different though. It wasn't much of a reflection, but an image from another time. Like I was staring a future version of me. I gotten incredibly tall compared to my height now, which is a mere, 5"8", but the reflection was 5"10". I also noticed my hair remained the same shaggy style of brown and yellow, but grown longer. I started sprouting facial hairs, and my chest was broader. But in my eyes I could not only see the pain of losing a father, but the confusion and desperation. "Are you me?" I asked. The reflection smirked, and nodded slowly. "Yes, I am you from another time." My voice had deepened, and sounded a lot more wise and experienced. "Exactly when are you talking to me?" I asked. My reflection thought about it for a minute, like he was debating on whether or not it would be safe to tell me the time period he was talking to me from. "I am talking to you from the middle of summer. Listen, so much stuff happened, more than you can imagine! The Twelve has become corrupted, and fallen into the hands of the Shadow 21! One member in particular…" He cringed, and I could see all hope leave his eyes. I heard screams, and knew it wasn't that in The Library. I tried to turn, but my eyes locked with my future-self's sight, making me have the inability to move. "No! You cannot see whose screaming behind you, not yet! Nathan, this is how the stars tell the future. This is prophecy."

I awoke; a drop of sweat rolled off my cheek. I was on some kind of bed made out of cloud-like material. My room looked like a hotel room, with the exception of a fish tank with different varieties of fish. I had on a long red robe that was very hard to walk in, I noticed the time, 3:30. I noticed that time almost never changes in The Library, probably only when Lucifilus wants it to. I figure a minute in our world is an hour in this world. So if school got out at one, and it's 3:30 right now. That means I've been asleep for six and a half days in The Library. Danny charged into my room during mid-insanity, and I flew out of the bed. "Leave me here for six days straight will you?" He stated. I figured he must've have never gone back to the real world when I was under my sleep. "You stayed here all the time I was asleep?" My voice sounded like I was chewing on metal, and I could feel a little sick. My nose was running, and my body was sore. "Of course, we are a team now, and it would be wrong for me to just leave you here."

"You forgot to mention that I need a host body to help me send people to and from The Library." Lucifilus added well stepping into the room. Achilles followed after, and I got up slowly from the floor. Danny's face was a little red, and I laughed off the situation. "So what now?" I asked. I could feel something different in the air, and felt a chill down my spine. "Well first, we need your final training session to be completed. Then we'll be able to summon another Spirit in the capsules."

"You have to be kidding me? You mean to tell me that killing a giant acid-bleeding dragon wasn't enough to tell you we're perfect members for The Twelve?" I asked, my voice almost menacing. Lucifilus looked at me with wide eyes, and Achilles gave me a strange look. "You kill the dragon? If anything you went berserk and just made a hole in the dragon's scales. Meanwhile, I was the one to save both your asses!" Achilles shouted. I got a little mad when he raised his voice; I was never really treated like this, like a father. "You're right… I apologize." I admitted. He crossed his arms in satisfaction, and I got a little red-faced. "So, we have to do our last training session?"

"Yes." There was a long awkward pause between all of us. "So…" Lucifilus looked at me in question, but I gave him the same look.

"So what?"

"What's the next training session?"

"You got to be kidding me?" I asked staring at my own reflection in a diamond blade. They told us that we needed to fight each other, and see who ever won becomes leader. "Do we really need to see who's going to be leader? Can't we all be equal?" I activated my red ruby staff, and stared at Danny. His hair was spiked in the front like it normally was, but his eyes were a different color. Instead of them being a desert brown, they were a flame red. I then looked at my reflection in the blade, and noticed my eye color changed as well. They were a hazelnut brown before, but now they're cyan like, almost completely aqua. I noticed every little feature on Danny's body, and compared them to my own. From afar he looked taller than me, but when we were close I would become taller. He had a scar in between his eyebrows, and his forehead was big from him putting his hair up. He had dark rings around his eyes like he wasn't sleeping, and his teeth were huge but not overly huge. He looked like a typical boy, but once you get to know him you know he's not typical at all. I on the other hand had long brown with blond highlights hair. I had dark brown eyes—up until this point. I recently just shaved, and I have a mild acne problem. No "oh-my-gosh your face looks like one giant pimple ready to flood New York" problems, but I know I wasn't cleared skinned as well. I resisted using any medication aside from my oil pads. My skin was tagged with pen markings from the last day of school, and phone numbers dotted on my arms were visible. Since I went to a different Elementary school as everyone else, I made a promise to go back to that side of town. The order I am going is Gladstone, Ramona, and then San Dimas. The order that is required is Gladstone, Ramona, and then Bonita. Bonita and San Dimas are two High schools with a very bad rivalry, and me going to San Dimas classifies me as a traitor among my friends I've made during the last three years. Now that I realize it, if Danny's going to remain at Ramona, and then go to Bonita, then how would The Twelve work? I wasn't given much time to think about it, because immediately after I was dodging Danny's blade that was inches from my face. "Goodness kid, calm yourself." I stated. He was incredibly quick, and I noticed I was more on he defensive side of the battle. I jumped back and missed his diamond blade. "You really are getting a work out aren't you?" I heard Lucifilus say in my head. I dodged his blade once more, but felt his foot kick me in the stomach. I tumbled backwards, but knew the longer I felt pain, the longer I'll be easier to get another attack on. His blade came at me again, but I quickly used my staff to stop the full effect. There was a bright light in between our weapons, and I jumped back because it blinded me. "Star rush!" I yelled, and ran with my staff in front of me. I was pointing it towards Danny with Cosmo like rays trailing behind me like I was a shooting star. I smashed into Danny, and he was launched back towards a bookshelf. Books flew, and wood was chipped from the shelf. Danny was somewhere in the wreckage, and for a second I won. "Danny?" I asked into the debris. I saw books begin to move, and a hand popped out of the broken shelf. A red seven-pointed star was shining brightly on the hand, and it made the whole crash start to shake. I clenched as the broken shelf exploded from Danny, and I saw that his eyes had turned completely red. It was like he was the Devil rising in a golden throne to reap his vengeance. Danny's blade slowly turned black like Achilles's, and darkness surrounded him. I felt like he was ready to do the worst, but I also knew he'll be restricted for him being inexperienced. "Man! He already got his true Spirit unlocked?"

"True Spirit? What is that even supposed to mean?"

"His true Spirit is something new host bodies feel when they are in dire need. It's sort of a defense mechanism, or a last resort."

"So it boosts up every physical and special attack the host wields."

"And gives them a higher opportunity to learn new moves." Lucifilus explained to me. Danny looked at me with empty eyes like he was forced to activate the spirit or something. I got ready to whatever he was going to dish out, and I knew something new will come from this. "Come at me!" I yelled, and the hypnotized Danny was sprinting at me with his dark blade. He gotten extremely fast, but I jumped out of the way like I was at the radio dodging a mad bull. "So, you're now headstrong right?" I mocked well sending a star towards Danny. He jumped high in the air, dodging the star, and was coming down with his blade pointed to the floor. I sidestepped quickly, and noticed his blade got stuck into the floor. Seeing that Danny was now stuck, I kicked him into another bookshelf with my physically enhanced foot. "Are you done yet?" I yelled. There was a long pause as I watched Danny on the ground. His star was calmed, but I could tell he was still in that hysteria form. The star shined red quickly, and before I could move from his graph, he grabbed my ankle and tripped me onto the floor. He got up quickly, and threw me towards a bookshelf. I felt the shelf begin to crumble around me, and heard the same scream I heard when I was talking to my future self. "Are you okay?" I heard Lucifilus say. I looked around but could see nothing. Something shined in my hand, and I noticed my seven-pointed star was glowing a sea-blue along with my eyes. I noticed the cuts, and what Danny said was true. They shined as well as the areas The Twelve gave. I gripped my staff tightly, and the ruby shined red. "ENOUGH!" I yelled. The shelf around me exploded, and I looked at Danny who had turned back to his sane form. "Lucifilus, I need to know if being a leader is really necessary. Did you guys have leaders?"

"No, but look at us now. Don't be a sore loser."

"Achilles! Everyone in this group is equal. If I really wanted to be your host, then I would do it with no restraint."

"Go ahead then, I want to see you try it!" Achilles tried to make me mad. I looked at Danny for what seemed to be like hours—in the real world it probably was. My mind was set to destroy him, but something in my body was resisting any form of violence. "I'm waiting…" Achilles stated again. Danny looked at me with his big red eyes. I couldn't hurt him, not after all that was done. "Nathan…" I heard him say. The words came at normal speed, but his lips moved so slowly. The adrenaline was pumping in my heart, and I felt my staff forcing its way upward. Something in my mind said not to do it, but actions spoke otherwise.

"Star crash!" I yelled sending a small rotating orb towards Danny. I quickly threw down my staff in frustration, and watched as the orb flew towards Danny. Lucifilus's eyes were shocked, almost like he didn't expect me to throw the orb. "Very interesting." The voice said in my head. The voice was not of Chaos, but of the same being that forced me to go berserk during the dragon fight. Danny smiled as he saw my attack hurdling towards him, and he used his blade to deflect it back towards me. "Ping-pong? I never knew you were a fan of table games Danny." I mocked. He started to laugh, and I knocked the orb back towards him. With every swipe of our weapons the ball got faster and bigger. "You can't keep this up forever, one of you will have to give in eventually." Lucifilus told me. The orb was going at the blink of an eye, and I was beginning to be drenched in sweat. "This is ridiculous!" Danny yelled. I finally had it, and decided to make a big finish. "Star cataclysm!" The star instantly exploded when it met my staff, and I jumped into the smoke. I saw Danny had the same idea, and around us the smoke cleared. He swung his blade towards me, but I countered with my staff. Little sparks came out of our weapons as they met. "Star burst!" I yelled. As our weapons met: a bright spark knocked Danny's blade in the air, and when it came down: I clutched it in my hand. I pointed my staff towards Danny's face, and he put his hands up in surrender. "Now, me winning this fight and becoming 'leader' has been decided. My first ruling is to have NO leaders."

Despite the fact that I almost killed somebody that would be crucial for my mission, I think the test went completely fine. I learned some new moves, how to use my staff as a defensive and offensive weapon, and that ping-ponging an orb back and forth for a good ten minutes can get somebody tired. I noticed the clock, 3:32, of course. Lucifilus and Achilles told Danny and I to rest up, so we both lounged in the central library until they told us what to do next. Our eye color went back to their original colors, and both of our stars were calmed. "Nice battling you did out there." I complimented. He munched on a chewy bar, and looked down a hallway like he was ignoring me. "What's wrong?" I asked. I never felt worried for another person before, and it was a felling that I've become to feel happy about them. "It's nothing." He said, oats still in his mouth. "By hell it's nothing! Danny, I know we haven't known each other for that long-"

"Six days is a long time you know."

"You know what I mean! I know you probably feel uncomfortable talking to me, especially since you hardly know me, but if we're going to be a tam then we have to feel comfortable enough to where we can open up." There was a long pause, and Danny's eyes began to water. He clenched his fist, and breathed in deep.

"I'm not ready…"

"Not ready for what to be exact?"

"I'm not ready for, this!" He said stretching to emphasize he was talking about The Library. "I just can't accept the fact that this is all real!"

"I know; I'm having trouble believing that it's real as well. But, would we be having this conversation if it weren't real."

"No, but why does it feel like this whole thing's in my head?"

"Who said what's in your head is not reality?"

"I don't understand. If we're in my head, then why-"

"Daniel, Nathan, its time." Lucifilus called us from the hallways that lead us to the Sanctuary. Danny and I both looked at each other for a brief second before decided to go, and for a second I could see the future in his eyes. I could see the fire…

"So, we could activate any spirit we like?" I asked. Lucifilus nodded, and stepped backwards to give us a better vision on what to choose from. I looked at each one, but all of them seemed so wrong. It was when I got to a capsule with a little pink light that spiked my interest. Inside I could see a girl with blond hair and beautiful blue eyes huddled into a fetal position. The pink lights were light flames burning all around the girl, but when I blinked: the image was gone. "That one." I pointed to the pink capsule, and Lucifilus and Achilles both looked at each other with amused faces. They burst into laughter, almost to tears, and something about the situation made me embarrassed. I then began to get mad, and lashed out at the spirits. "And what's so wrong with this one?" I shouted. They started to grow more and more lounge. I was finally finished with their laughter, and grabbed the capsule off the shelf. My seven-pointed star started to grow cyan again, and the lock—which was also a seven-pointed star—opened. The pink light escaped its capsule, and began to dance around the room. Lucifilus and Achilles stopped laughing, and I tried to keep up with the light. It stopped right in front of me, and began to take form. The Spirit was obviously female, and had the longest pink hair. Her skin was Caucasian, but it was slightly tan. She had green eyes; almost like they were grass is during the spring. She looked around thirty, and her beauty captivated me. I looked at Achilles and Lucifilus who were struggling to keep a straight face. "The war has begun again?" The new Spirit asked. Her voice was like a feather: soft when alone, but on the body of a hawk it's a brave aviary. "Yes Gabriella, the war has started once again." Lucifilus explained to her. Tears started to form in Gabriella's eyes, and her hair changed to blue. "But…" She yelled with tears flowing down her face. Achilles threw his arms up in frustration. "This is exactly why we shouldn't have activated her."

"Achilles, hush yourself."

"No, Lucifilus, you know as well as I that she is a complete waste of time." I saw as Gabriella's hair changed from her aqua blue, to lava red. "She shouldn't even be considered a warrior!" Gabriella looked up at Achilles; a fire flickered in her eye. Her hair was flowing like a flame, and she got up slowly. The lights in the room changed from white to red. She grabbed Achilles by the collar of his shirt, and forced him towards a wall. "You listen here you warrior! I'm not going to be the weak, scrawny little girl you remember anymore. I'm going to make sure everything you know and love is taken away from you in the matter of milliseconds!" She stated. Sweat rolled down Achilles's cheeks, and I couldn't help but laugh at the extent. She let go of Achilles, and made her way towards me. "You look normal. Don't let you Spirit poison your mind."

"But Achilles isn't my Spirit." I admitted. Gabriella gave Lucifilus a quick glance, and saw that his attention was on a fly that was buzzing around The Library. "I know…" She told me, turning around so I could see the disgust in her face. Gabriella then sat down on the couch, and began to meditate. "What is she doing?" I asked softly, fearing my voice would be a break in concentration. "She's looking for a host that's suitable for her mental transformation."

"A mental transformation? What is that supposed to mean?"

"You remember the first time we met in The Library? That was your mental transfiguration. The peak you change from human to inhuman."

"So were technically not human anymore? We're superhuman?"

"Kind of. I can't really explain it well enough, especially when we're just figuring this out along with you. Each host resembles us. I saw you in the prophecy Nathan. You were talking to Chaos, and he was afraid of you and you were keeping a cool-head. I chose you over 1,000 years ago Nathan."

"And only you could choose because you have the power to read prophecy from the stars?"

"Exactly! I'm sure you had your first try at prophecy when you passed out for six days right after looking up at the stars."

"Yes, it was a very weird experience. Just seeing my-"

"Done! Her name is Eva Garay; she lives right across the street from the school. By the way, everyone in school is around you and Danny wondering what the heck you're doing sleeping on the floor." Gabriella explained. I looked at the clock again, and noticed that time was going faster than normal. It was like seconds in the world were being doubled in The Library. I don't remember who Eva was, but she sounded awfully familiar. "Okay, so what do we do when we find her? Just bring her to The Library?"

"More complex than that. Something in the real world will be stopping you every time we activate a Spirit."

"Yes, I did happen to see something forming in the middle of the street before finding Eva." Gabriella told us. I was starting to get worried, and I knew that any mistake would cost us a life. Lucifilus activated his scythe, and made me touch it with my staff. "Good luck both of you." We were instantly teleported to the real world for the first time in days.

Gabriella wasn't lying when she told us that EVERYONE in the whole school was watching us. "Danny? Nathan? Since when did you two know each other?" I traced the voice to a good friend Brandyn. He's a Philippine, and one grade below me. I did find it strange that he asked the question because Danny and I have been through so much in the last six days. "Does anyone know an Eva Garay?" I asked. A handful of people raised their hands, but on girl in particular stood out. Her name was Jessica Carnahan, same grade as me. I found her to be outstanding, and I have a crush on her. "Jessica, come here." I commanded. At first she was hesitant, but when she realized who was talking she came running up. "Are you okay? Look at your face! You're bleeding in the forehead." She asked me worryingly. I smiled, but knew I had to remain stern. "Jessica, tell me what you know about Eva."

"Not much. I know she's some blond chick with blue eyes. She's in my math class. Now that I look at it, she did look kind of down today."

"Tell me about her parents, what's their occupation if you know?"

"I know her mom's a simple housewife, but her dad has a weird job. She explained that he works at some laboratory conducting weird experiments." She explained. I got a little curious that her dad was a secret scientist. I looked in the middle of the street, and saw what was forming in the center. Purple ooze was rising from the cracks, and I started to get nervous on what was going on. "Okay, I need you to get out of here as soon as you can, alright?"

"But my mom's not getting here until four."

"Come with us then, we'll be in and out in no time!" She shrugged when I gave the idea, and we headed towards the street with Eva's house.

"Wait… Which house is hers?" I asked looking round the whole street. I noticed a house that looked like chimney was lit. I felt the ground began to shake, and I turned around to see a giant mountain of liquid starting to rise from the surface. "Get to the house quickly, there's no telling what would come out of that plume!" Lucifilus commanded. I grabbed Jessica's wrist, and began to run. The house was erupting in flames, and I knew that the girl named Eva had to be in here. "This is her house. You don't think she's still in here, do you?" Jessica asked. I didn't give it a second thought, and I knew Danny didn't either. He knocked down the door with his blade, and I stared at Jessica for a minute and saw from her face that she had no idea what was going on. "Stay here, I'll explain later." I told her. She smiled nervously, and gave me a hug before I went into the blaze.

The house was slowly crumbling down around me, and the smoke was trapped in my lungs. I could hear Danny's footsteps upstairs, but behind that I could hear whimpering coming from a bathroom. In front of the bathroom were two dead bodies: one male, one female, both looked around forty or so. They had gunshot wounds impaling their skulls, and behind them were wet towards that covered the bathroom from the flames. I got my staff out quickly, and began to instruct the girl that was inside. "Eva? Eva, is that you?"

"Yes, who are you? Where are my parents?"

"Eva, I need you to remain calm. Is there a bathtub in there?"

"Yes, but I don't see what a bathtub would do to help me!"

"Get in it, and remain clam. Tell me when you're in it!" There was a long pause, and I could hear footsteps touching the hard surface of the tub. I thought it was the perfect time as ever. "Star rush!" I yelled. The door bursts into a million pieces, and I rushed into the restroom to see the girl. She was just like the girl from the capsule image. The blond hair, the blue eyes, everything matched up. She had a top on that sagged a little on her left shoulder, and she was wearing a pair of ripped blue jeans. Her hair was down, and she had a white flower in it that was withered from the humidity. Her eyes were puffed up, and I felt compassion the minute I laid eyes on her. She flung herself into my arms, and that point I didn't know what to do. I was considering staying there and let the flames burn us together, but I knew about the mission and how every second counts. I ran outside the door of the house with Eva in my arms. I noticed Jessica was still there, and she smiled in gratification. "Thank God you're alright, but where's that one kid. Danny right?" She asked. I looked back at the house, and noticed the exterior was beginning to collapse. I saw a window crash open, and Danny jumped onto the roof. "Get off of there!" I yelled. He tripped, but got his balance back up again. He jumped with every ounce of his strength on top of a roof, and we all watched the house collapse on the spot.

Danny jumped off the roof, and met us in the middle of the street. "Thanks for having us worried the hell out!" I yelled. He smiled at us, and we all looked down the street towards the mountain of black liquid. 'What is that?" Eva asked. I remembered that she had no idea what The Twelve was, and I guess watching her house burn down to the ground granted courage for her. "Lucifilus, tell Gabriella to explain to Eva about the situation." I noticed the seven-pointed star located on the back of her neck, and watched as it glowed a bright pink. Instantly, a light shined around her, and she was given her weapon. They looked like a cross between a bow and a gun, and I knew that arrows weren't her supply of ammo. I could tell Gabriella was explaining to her about The Twelve because she seemed to be spacing out during random moments. "Nathan, what is all of this?" Jessica asked me. I completely forgot she was there wondering why all of these things were happening. I also felt like Lucifilus didn't want me to tell her anything, and to reach my greatest: I have to let her go. "But if I let her go, then I for sure know she'll die! I need to keep her safe, even though if it meant telling her the truth about us."

"You have no idea what you're saying. You can't be tied with worldly processions! If anything she'll die not knowing it was your fault, but if you tell her and she dies, then it'll be on your conscious for the rest of your life!"

"That's something I'm willing to take chances on." I told Lucifilus under my breath. Danny looked at me like he could understand all of the conversation, but Jessica just looked at me like I was completely mental. I smiled unconfidently, and looked at Eva who was still under her daydream. The funnel in the middle of the street grew bigger, and I grabbed both of Jessica's hands. "Jessica, what ever happens here, I want you to know that you mean everything to me, and I won't allow you to die!"

"What? How on earth am I going to die?" She asked. I could feel my grip strangling her, and I let go almost instantly. The ground began to shake violently, and I had a lot of trouble keeping my balance. Jessica dropped to the ground, and I watched as the funnel finally open. Monsters made by Chaos leaked out, and I watched helplessly. "Nathan, Gabriella explained to me that we have to run!"

"And why would she say that? We're not running!"

"She said that we're out numbered and inexperienced! If we were to stay here, then it'll be like committing suicide!"

"No! I won't let Chaos take the innocent. Lucifilus, I'm sending Jessica to you, get ready!" I said pointing my staff at Jessica and she was teleported to The library.

The ground was cracking beneath us, and I jumped the side Danny and Eva were on. Eva looked at her weapon; almost amazing at the heavy machinery it took to make it. "Do you know how to work that thing?" I asked. She looked at me with confusion, and then pointed the gun at a mailbox. At first she was hesitant of the fire, but once she did a light flashed out of the Dual Bow Gun, and exploded the mailbox. "Now I do." Eva admitted. I got my red ruby staff out, and we charged down the street where the monsters terrorized the kids. Dodging black lava well fighting monsters was extremely difficult, and I barely got burned.

The first monster I faced was something like a speed demon. "Veloxdaemon to be more exact. They have wheels on their feet like you kids use roller-skates." Lucifilus explained. Judging on the evaluation the Spirits gave me of my test: speed was my weakest component. I sent a star towards the demon, but he rolled out of the way. He literally went as fast as sound itself, and knocked me towards the ground. I got back up quickly, but he jumped in front of me. Our movements were rocket fast. His left foot met my right arm, and his right foot met my staff. Veloxdaemon was circling around me, and with the amazing speed he had: he sucked the air from my lungs. I fell to the ground well holding my chest, and watched my whole life flash before my eyes. Something happened though. I was only watching my own life, but I was watching another person's life as well. Left on the footsteps of a church a baby, force to be called: "Love Satin" in Latin forever, and having a demon in you that you couldn't control. I was in Lucifilus's head.

At first I had no idea if I was alive or dead. All I knew is that I was in some kind of basement with a witch's pot in the middle. The pot had green acid-like liquid in it, and smoke cascading down the exterior. I clenched my fist as my body was pushed to the pot, and a hand slowly rose from the liquid. If this was real: my body would have fell backwards frightened, but something in my head told me it wasn't real, and caused me to stay. The hand had long, filthy nails. A red ruby ring glistened in the torchlight, and blood was dripping from the hand. A voice as raspy and old as a dead person spoke from the cauldron, and it made my spine shiver. "You are the host for Lucifilus aye? Both a blessing and a curse to be chosen to defeat the demon that I've created."

"You mean you created Chaos? Just who are you anyway?"

"You know well enough who I am Nathaniel! In Greek mythology they refer to me as Hades, and call my kingdom the Underworld! In Christianity I thought the sinful way of light, and in the future I shall be thrown into the lake of fire with minions! I have so many secret followers on the surface you won't even believe!"

"So you're saying that you're the Devil? I find that hard to believe since right now I'm talking to a hand that needs a manicure." I could feel the Devil get angry with me, but felt that I was a main key to whatever plan he had. "Nathaniel," He started again. "Chaos is not strong enough to destroy this planet alone, especially since he has you twelve plus the twenty-one to worry about. He will surely fall, but the main question here is who's the true enemy?"

"Are you saying you're the enemy? And if you're creation dies, then you're going to reap its soul and destroy us?"

"Perhaps, only prophecy will figure this out. But answer me something: If Chaos isn't the true demon you should be worrying about, then what is?" What the Devil said brought me back to the prophecy, and what my future-self told me. "Someone in The Twelve is going to betray us." The voice echoed in my head. I clenched my fist quickly as I put the two together. "I'm guessing this ties in with the prophecy I received, am I right?"

"You could be. The betrayer will have a dramatic impact in The Twelve, and relationships will be broken. However, is the betrayer really the betrayer, or a puppet on a string of the real evil?" Gosh I hate riddles! The more I thought about the whole situation, the more it got confusing. If Chaos is in fact going to die, then will the betrayer be the one we have to worry about? No! Something would be controlling the betrayer, and it's up to us to figure out who that would be. "So, do you have any idea who the betrayer may or may not be?"

"I might, but telling you would just ruin the fun in things! But rest assured, when you all find out who it is: you're going to be so messed up in that head that nothing will make sense anymore."

"Answer my question! Whose the betrayer!"

"That wasn't your question though. You simply asked if I knew who it was, and by all means I gave you an excellent answer, and then some.

"Fine then, answer me this final question. Why did you create Chaos in the first place?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"It would only be ri-"

"You didn't let me finish. Why would I tell you, when I could just simply show you?" The hand turned into a fist, and sunk swiftly into the green liquid. The room began to shake, and the acid-like water exploded like a geyser. The liquid was harmless, but it began to flood the whole room. I struggled in the wave, and grew unconscious. Wouldn't be the first time.

Chapter 4: The Devil's Truth

When I woke up: I was standing up with brand new clothes on. I wore sandals, a long brown robe with a golden design on it, and I held an unlit candle. The hood of my robe was up, and it covered my face completely. "This is 1,000 years in the past. Back when civilization was being built stronger, and more advanced. The disciples long ago brought back the stories of Jesus Christ, but not only did they bring back the religion, but made a new one. A secret cult called the Brotherhood of Lucifilus was designed underground to destroy the teachings of God." Satan narrated. I knew of religion and I'm a strict Christian, but I never expected to get religious teachings from the Devil himself. "Before Lucifilus's full name was Lucifilus of the Stars, his original name was Lucas Philips."

"What made his name change?"

"Shh, listen." The Devil said. I was outside hiding behind a bush, when I heard what to be high-heels on the pavement. I crouched low enough so I could be hidden, but high enough so I could see as well. A woman with a jacket over her hair walked up the steps of the church holding something. It was tightly wrapped inside a blanket, and once she set it down: she vanished. Before disappearing I got a glimpse of the molding of her face. Her eyes were a dazzling red, and her mouth looked like the angels sculpted it. I ran towards the bundle, and started to unwrap it.

"No! You shall NEVER let the baby see you!"

"Why not, what harm will it do?"

"This baby is beyond anything you have ever seen. If you WANT to disrupt the future, then by all means do it!"

"I don't see how taking a look at a baby will disrupt the future and I."

"Lucifilus will have NEVER picked you because he'll remember who you are!"

"Wait, remember who I am? Are you saying that this baby is Lucifilus? And if I look: the baby will forever remember my face?"

"Yes, now knock on the door and remember, don't look at the baby!" I looked at the giant church door, and noticed the over-sized knocker. I took a deep breath in, and knocked. Almost immediately after, the door opened partially, and a voice creaked through the cracks. "What's the password?" I looked at the baby and wanted to test something out. "Lucifilus." The door instantly closed, and reopened to a dimly lighted church. "Brother Samuel! You bring an offering?"

"No, a lady stopped by and dropped the baby off to the steps. I am only a deliverer." The words came out of my mouth almost involuntary, and I doubted I sounded like a man already. The man grabbed the baby from me and smiled. He had no teeth, so I suggest he was either really old, or just had a bad dental plan—if they even had dental plans back then. The baby was squirming a little, and I noticed that the man's teeth were inside of his gums! Disgusting! He chuckled, almost sounding evil. He had a wicked thought on his mind, and it was casting off his eyes like two gray storm clouds. "Excellent. I'll wake the others and we'll begin the process right away!"

"Process? What are you talking about?" Suddenly my brain was given full information of the plan they had in mind. Step one, take a small portion of blood from the child, and drop into the acid of the Devil. Step two, when the child turns ten, remove all of the child's garments and bathe the child in the acid for where his blood was injected. Lastly, when he turns thirteen, inject the acid into his veins, and watch his veins turn to a sickly green. I clenched my fist thinking of all the tortuous things they will do the baby. "If you don't mind me asking, but why would we want to demonize a baby again?"

"Why you gave the idea that is! You explained that demonizing an infant would be a great offering for our lord, and that it would bring much respect for the Brotherhood in hell!"

"Yes, now I recall stating that. Very well, the process will start right away." I caved. I don't know who this "Brother Samuel" guy is, but he seemed like a horrible person to be offering an infant's body to the seduction of a demon. I didn't know the name of the person I was talking to, but when he began to leave: more information flowed in my head. Brother Raphael, age 73, at least 5"2". He has white hair under his robe, and his eyes were gray. He was second in command for the Brotherhood of Lucifilus, but that's it. Something told me that he wasn't one of my biggest problems when it came to somebody being the mastermind. I most definitely believed that Samuel had a big roll in this whole demonization as well. There was something—or someone—that I was most interested about however. Brother Nicholas. From the information I've received, I could tell that he had dark brown hair, sandy eyes, and his body features closely resembles Danny. Could this be a distant relative, or just a mere coincidence?

"We are never really sure of ourselves are we?"

"Why am I here? What is this place anyway? And more precise, whose this Brother Samuel guy anyway?"

"You have so many questions, and I have so many answers. However, in order to get those answers you need to finish what you've started." A knife appeared in my hand, and in my head I could hear the cry of a little child. I was in some kind of room in the church. There was a young boy looking at a window, and with that I assumed we were in the attic. "Brother Samuel, why are you here?" The boy said. I put my hood up, and looked closer at the boy. He was barely ten, and I knew why he was so on the edge. "It's time Lucas, you ceremony shall begin!"

"I don't want to! I know why you guys do all these weird stuff to me! You want to make me a demon, and I won't let you do that!"

"I know. I believe the Brotherhood made a very bad mistake when using you. But the process Lucas, if it is interrupted, you will die."

"What do you mean die? Because I fail to show the quality of becoming Lucifilus, is that what you mean? That's a very ignorant punishment."

"I do not make the rules. Brother Nicholas told me that if the proves were to be interrupted by any outside fore, then the host body will die, and Lucifilus's spirit will be lost in between the worlds."

"I don't care! I rather die than become one of them! I rather slit my own throat, fall into a fire, or even be casted to the lake of pyro!" I didn't know what to do. I then noticed the blade, and a cross reflected off of the knife. "Is that?" I grabbed Lucas's arm quickly, and a cross was imprinted on his robe. "Did you make this?"

"If I did? What's so wrong with that?"

"Do you know if either of the other Brotherhood members caught you with this that you'll be beheaded?"

"No, but really I don't care! Even if I do die, who would miss me?" I then got what Lucifer wanted me to do with the blade, and I lifted Lucas's sleeves. "What are you doing?" He yelled. I got the blade, and started to cut a seven-pointed star on the palm of his hand. Blood trickled down from his fingers, and tears cascaded down his face. Fire danced from his fingertips, and his eyes reflected that of space. The vision ended, and I was teleported down to the basement with the same pot that held the green liquid. Lucas was removing his robes, and I noticed the palm of his hand was still gushing with blood. "You did good, how did you know what to do though?"

"I know that Lucifilus was the origin of the Ancient Order, and I'm guessing that the star would help him keep his mortal side over Lucifilus."

"Just like Samuel, but there is one flaw you over-looked. The seven-pointed star resembles that of demonic procession, and you basically made the spirit of Lucifilus come a lot harder!" The boy dipped into the liquid, and his skin began to burn to a point where it hurt, but does not do damage. "You bastard!" He yelled at me. There was something different in his voice, and I heard a chuckling from beyond. Lucas couldn't help it anymore, and he lifted the palm of his hand to the air. A light shined out of his hand, and smashed the ceiling in. "Lucifilus deliver!" He yelled again, and the light turned cyan blue.

"Yes, the process is nearly complete. All we need to do is wait three more years for his soul to be dead!"

"This is wrong. You've created a monster Lucifer!"

"I know; it's what I do best. The spirit of Lucifilus was merely a test for the real deal. Chaos is technically Lucifilus's brother in some way." The scene changed for the final time. Lucas ran away from me well I held a need with the Devil's acid in it. "I won't let you!" He cried out. Lucas tripped on a plank of wood, and the entire Brotherhood held him down as I injected the acid. His veins changed to a bright green, and he stood there crying well we all backed away like nothing had happened. "Is the ceremony ready for downstairs?" I asked. Everyone nodded, and we transcended down to the basement.

I watched as the spirit callers got their ancient dance ready, and Brother Nicholas came up to me with a box in his hand. "Brother Samuel! Such a joyous event and you look melancholy? You should be celebrating! All your hard work and dedication is about to pay off! Soon we'll have our secret weapon!"

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, but what is the secret weapon?"

"You don't remember? I explained it only yesterday. The plan is to create Lucifilus, head from Egypt to Jerusalem, march to their wall, and burn the city to the ground!" I shivered as I heard what Brother Nicholas was saying, but I also was curious on what the box was. "And the box is for?"

"This box holds a diary I have obtained for you. You shall keep track of our progress starting today. This shall not only be yours, but it would be passed down from your generations to come, and they will continue our legacy." Brother Nicholas departed from me, and the ceremony began.

I was sent upstairs to the attic with Lucas to see if the Spirit was implanted in him. "Brother Samuel, I'm scared."

"I know Luci- I mean Lucas. When you go under your transformation, the Brothers said that you would lose your memory. So say what you want to say right here, right now."

"Brother Samuel. My mom. I had this dream last night that she was a young girl, but something was different."

"I didn't even know you still had records in your mind of your mother. I hardly remember even seeing her the day I found you."

"Yes, she never left my memory. Samuel, the difference was not something I could explain. I want to say it was the way she looked, but that wasn't it."

"What do you mean the way she looked?"

"I don't know, but it was quite different than anything I've ever seen before." He added. I didn't think much of his situation at all, and I sat at the window looking at the sky. "The sky sure is blue outside; sure wish I could go out."

"What did you just say?" Lucas asked. I turned around, and his face was serious. "I said the sky is blue."

"Blue, what is blue?" He asked. My eyes shot wide, and I looked at his face again to see total confusion. "Blue, you know. Like color!"

"What's color? I have no idea what these words mean!" I picked up Lucas's head to see his eyes. They were gray, almost colorless. "You're color-blind, and don't even know." I whispered to myself. The image seemed to stop in time, and Lucifer began to explain. "When Lucifilus was bathed in the liquid, he lost all of the color in his eyes, and everything he knew about colors was gone! He was unaware of it at first, and I'm guessing the liquid burned all his senses causing him not to remember. It's not until he was injected with the need is when he fully lost all of his memory about the quality called color." He explained. I looked at the boy's eyes and they were gray. My fist was ready to kill them. Those people caused this destruction; they caused the pain! So much pain! TOO MUCH PAIN! "Brother Samuel, my head!" Lucas yelled well grasping his head in pain. I heard screams downstairs, and began to run. The door that led to the basement had green liquid coming from the cracks, and I knew what had happened. "Don't you love watching these people die?" I know you know what's behind that door, why don't you just let it go?"

"Because I need to save Lucas! I won't let him fall under Lucifilus!"

"Really now? Look behind you." I turned to see Lucas staring at me with red eyes like his mothers. His veins popped out of his skin, and his teeth were transformed into fangs. "Lucas?"

"I'm no longer Lucas anymore, and for the process to be complete, you need to open the door!"

"No! A second ago you didn't want this to happen! A second ago you were scared, and now you want it?"

"You will obey your master!"

"No!" A giant scythe came out of thin air, and landed into his hand. "Activate your staff!"

"But he's not supposed to know who I am!"

"He won't remember you! Once the process is complete, he'll forget everything and I'll pull you out of this time plane!" My red ruby staff was clenched in my hand, and I got ready to defend the door. He sent a fireball towards me, but I quickly countered. "Astral Barrier!" A purple shield of light came from my staff, and I jumped in the air. "Star Bash!" I yelled, and charged downwards towards Lucas. He jumped out of the way, and I cracked the ground. Green liquid shot out like a geyser. "You will rue the day you dare raise your staff at me!" He stabbed he ground with his scythe, and purple flames shot out from the ground. "Astral Collision!" The flames made a circle around me, and I was in control of them. My hood flew off, and Lucas looked at me with wide eyes. "You're the boy! From my dream!"

"What are you talking about, what dream?" I saw my reflection in the liquid on the floor, and I noticed that I was no longer Brother Samuel. I turned back to my normal self, and Lucas began to explain. "In my dream I was in some kind of Library. I saw you. You were crying over some other person who was dead. I couldn't really see who the other person was, but I remember your face so clearly.

"Was there anyone else?"

"GAH! Don't avoid the situation! No I'll open the door finally, and let my true demon free!" The door swung open, and involuntary I ran towards Lucas. I pushed him out of the way, and a black smoke ran into me including tons of water. My vision got blurry, and I fell to the floor almost instantly as the water swept me off my feet. "You are not my host, but a close relation with it. Send me to my host! Deliver me!"

"No Lucifilus! I will never, even if it means killing myself just to kill you!" My body was shaking on the ground, and I was foaming at the mouth. I kept hearing the voice yell at me, but then I heard another voice from really far away. "Samuel! Release me!" A new Lucifilus said. He sounded like he was one from my own time. "Lucifilus is that?"

"You probably don't know who I am, but I'm Lucifilus from the future. The Spirit talking in your head, you have to cave into it! I know it sounds crazy, but trust me! It's the only way!"

"Lucifilus… I know you want me to release the spirit, but…"

"Just do it!" A black smoke came out of my body, and stretched across the whole church. Lucas looked and I saw the evil in his eyes, but I also saw the fear on his face. "The process is now complete; let the world scream when they hear my name!" The smoke said. The church was slowly being torn apart by a strong wind, and I crawled into a corner afraid for once in my life. The smoke lowered itself towards Lucas, and I watched desperately as it entered his lungs. "Life is a complex rode Nathaniel. You have good days, you have bad days, and sometimes you have days hat you wish would never happen. You gain, you lose, and then you really wish you could lose. You fall in love, out of love, and wish you could fall in love. You live, you die, and then you really wish you could die. All these options have to connect to life Nathan."

"Why did you show me all of this anyway? Is this really necessary for any part of my life?" All the smoke entered his body, and I clenched my fist, as there was total silence. "But, do the good really die?" Lucas opened his eyes, and they were completely black. "Big Bang!" He yelled, and I summoned an Astral Barrier to defend myself.

When I woke up I was in the basement looking t the witch's pot. "What just happened?"

"The boy you knew, Lucas, had killed himself well killing a part of Lucifilus as well. The move 'Big Bang' is a sacrificial spell, but he somehow survived it."

"How did he possibly survive it? It seemed impossible"

"When the spirit progressed out of your body, it took a part of your soul and made it into Lucifilus. He killed the actual spirit, but also himself."

"And when all of that was destroyed, the only left was the good side of Lucifilus; me."

"Now you're getting it. Still, there are other questions on your mind. Did Samuel survive? What happened to Lucifilus? Just know one thing: you're still alive." Hr told me. The room spun rapidly, and I fell to the ground.

The air began to fill back into my lungs, and I could tell that I had reached that insanity mode by the way I got up. My back hunched over, and my eyes almost bulging out of their sockets filled with rage. The Veloxdaemon was still circling around me, and I released a wave of light around me to stop him. "Star Dash!" I ran with outstanding speed towards Danny and Eva who were back-to-back destroying monsters. Eva's demo was part snake, part woman. Danny's was a giant Yeti type monster with a wooden club in his, or its, hand. "Are you alright?" Danny asked well blocking an attack from the Yeti. I began to wonder why he was asking that, but Eva started to explain. "We saw you fall to the ground almost like you were dead." She stated. I didn't give it much thought, but I clenched my fist remembering everything that I saw. "I'm just glad to be in my own time plane again." I mumbled to myself well releasing a star from my staff.

Danny rolled out of the giant club's way, and jumped on the Yeti's back well cleaving onto the brown fur. He then was batted with a giant fist, and landed on top of the coca-cola trucks that refill our vending machines. The Yeti yelled, and rammed its whole body at the truck. Danny got up slowly, but fell down again because the Yeti kept knocking on the truck. "Hell, this is going to be hard if he continues!" I cringed when I heard him say the word "hell" because I now know that, that place is real. "Star clash!" I yelled well I threw a star towards the Yeti. At first it looked like it was going to hit him, but in the matter of seconds it managed to knock the star back at me. Veloxdaemon was running down towards me, but star got in between us and he evaporated. Danny jumped off the truck, and landed on a fence nearby. "Hey ugly, I'm waiting." Danny mocked the snowman. The Yeti turned around and yelled a high-pitch scram. It ran towards Danny, but he managed to run up the fence. He was laughing quite hysterically as he did it, and I couldn't help myself but laugh along as well. "NATHAN!" I heard a voice scream besides me. I turned to see Eva on the ground, struggling to keep a golden spear from cutting her head off. "Well don't just stand there, help you idiot!" Lucifilus screamed at me. I got my staff out, and released a star towards the snake lady. It missed but it managed to get Eva free long enough to kick the lizard off of her. "Are you alright?" I asked well I picked her up from the ground. She nodded slowly, and got her Dual Bow Guns out. I clenched my fist as the voice began to speak in my head again. "Hello Nathaniel. You should know who this is since there's about twenty different voices in your head."

"What do you want Chaos? Or should I say… Never mind."

"Good thing that you paused. You have no idea whose listening to you speaks. It could-"

"Tell me what you want so you could stop wasting my time!"

"Nothing really, but you should join me."

"Oh not this again. I thought I told you once already; I'm never going to join your team of demonic mutants! Just look, you have a hairy beast chasing after a thirteen year old boy!"

"Have to give it to you, you sure are a funny one aren't you?" The Yeti punched Danny off the fence, and he landed in the middle of the street. "Oh the enjoyment of watching the people YOU love fall!" Chaos stated. Without knowing, I was running towards Danny with tears flowing out of my eyes. The world had lost all sound, and the only thing I could hear were different sound waves vibrating in my ear. The Yeti was in front of me, and I stared into its black-dotted eyes. The same eyes that watched as Danny fell to the ground. I knew the beast didn't know better, and his master had some kind of spell on him to obey his rules, but I still felt no sympathy for the beast. "Are you just going to stand there?" Eva yelled at me. The Yeti's club was racing down towards me, but I jumped out of the way before it could make contact with my body. I would like to tell you that I got hit for some reason, but I didn't. "Star Bash!" I yelled well a star raced out of my staff towards the Yeti. It knocked it back towards me, and my body instantly got muscle memory of the time Danny and I knocked the star back and forth. I knew from that point that I couldn't continue for long, so I dodged his next swing, and sprinted towards the Yeti. For a split second I could see fear in its eyes, and I knew that this was my only opportunity. I raised my staff in front of me, and released a wave of fire. The Yeti evaporated, and I watched as his body slowly melted on the pavement. Danny lay motionless on the street, and my mind went into a state of panic. I don't know why I felt like I did, it was more involuntary than anything else, but something about him being injured made my whole world turn upside-down, and gave my stomach a serious knot. I ran towards Danny, blood oozing from his forehead. He wasn't dead, but I knew he was going to be like this for a while. "Danny? Can you hear me?" I whispered into his ear. His body shuffled, and I heard him groan. His eyes slowly opened, and his face squelched from the pain. "Nathan? Is that you?"

"Yes, how are you holding up?"

"Well, tell me, is my arms and legs supposed to bend like this genius?" I looked and noticed that his hands were twisted oddly, and his legs had bones sticking out. "Sure?" I said trying to brighten the mood. "You would have to do all this healing in the physical world. I'll send Gabriella with a special brew right now." Lucifilus told me. Eva walked up, and bent down to inspect Danny's bones. "Your arm is dislocated from its socket, and your leg is broken pretty badly. It would take time and a miracle to fix you."

"Or just a simple low class potion that took me minutes to make." Gabriella said, walking up to us.

Gabriella told Eva and I that the potion was supposed to be massaged into Danny's skin, and he needs to drop down to his boxers. So, as a result, we left him for his sake of pride. We were in the wreckage of Eva's house picking up stuff that was to valuable for her to lose. "So, how did you know about Danny's bones?"

"I want to be a nurse when I grow up, so I took a class at the community center over the school year. We met every Saturday, and got taught from a doctor at the San Dimas hospital." I nodded, understanding. I picked up a picture frame from the ash, and called over Eva. It was little girl who was probably Eva, but something about the picture was different. It was heavier then it looked, but I didn't care. "Do you want this?" Eva looked up from her pile, and walked towards me. "This is the picture my father forbidden me to touch. It was the only one in the house I couldn't touch. He told me the secrets are always hidden in the back. When I was younger that made no sense to me, but now that I'm older." She unlatched the back of the frame, and an envelope fell out. I caught it quickly, but she snatched it from my hand. "How dare you!"

"I was just catching it!" She began to laugh, and that made me know it was only a joke. "I'm going to leave you alone." I said walking away.

"So how are you doing?" I asked Danny who was lying on the ground like a plank of wood. "Like a plank of wood." Go figure. He got up slowly, and I was surprised how well and fast the potion worked. A minute ago he was lying on the ground half dead, now it's like nothing even happened. He let out a groan, and resisted the attempt of getting up. "At least you can move. A couple hours in The Library will fix you up." I told him. He nodded solemnly, and a smirk was sprawled across his face. He chuckled a bit, and I began to wonder what was funny to him. "You know, you and Eva will make a pretty good couple." My face turned red quickly, and I struggled to find the right words to say. All that could come out of my mouth was a series of 'ums' and 'yeah'. "Come on now, don't pretend you don't like her a little." What he was saying was partially true, but love was really the last thing on my mind right now. "I don't know. What about you? Don't you like Eva as well?" His reaction was the same as mine: completely confused and baffled with the question. "No! Well, I don't think so!"

"Don't stress on it. You're at that age where you don't know if you 'like' someone. But yeah, I kind of like Eva, but I know what we're all a part of it too serious to be in love with each other." I suggested. Danny nodded, and found the power to get back on his feet. "Amazing how Gabriella's potion healed you so well," Eva sounded amazed. "I was expecting you to be healed by the end of this year." She said walking in our little circle. I nodded, and began to feel awkward after the conversation I just had with Danny. He gave me a glace, and I wanted to laugh badly. "Anyways," I said well choking the words out. "I'm guessing we should head to The Library soon. I have a feeling that Spirits would have some things to say to us about our little incident."

Chapter 5: It was built last week

Before going to The Library, I had to help Eva travel physically into it. We held hands in a circle, and before I knew it we were in The Library. At first I felt like we were sleeping for days, and I heard a very loud discussion from behind a bookshelf. I looked through the books to hear what was going on, but it was a fail to see. "I will not allow this!" Achilles shouted. I heard two people pacing back and forth, and knew who were talking, and what they were discussing. "Achilles be reasonable! It is only prophecy, we cannot change it!" Lucifilus stated. They were talking about the betrayer, and who it was. "But you damn well know he was the leader and transformed you all those years!"

"Don't you dare bring about that dark day in history! It wasn't him, he was only protecting me!" Protecting? Lucifilus? Am I the betrayer? I was so stunned that I dropped a book on the shelf, and it landed on the other side. "Nathan, Daniel, Eva? Is that you?" Achilles asked. We all came from behind the bookshelf, and my eyes were filled with a dreadful melancholy. "Are you okay Nathan? You don't look well?" Danny asked. I nodded in satisfaction, and sat on a couch to process everything in my head. If I was Brother Samuel in the past, then that means he's really an ancestor of mine. And if I'm the ancestor Achilles and Lucifilus were talking about, and then I'm the betrayer. My mind officially exploded, and I wasn't paying any attention to what they were conversing about. "Nathan, are you okay?" I looked up with probably the stupidest look on my face. "What? Sorry, I was in my own little world."

"Sure, anyway, your friend Jessica is sleeping in one of the rooms. At first she was baffled with what was going on, and she almost had a stroke. Gabriella gave her a potion to calm her nerves so she wouldn't stress herself sick."

"Thank you Lucifilus. I'm sorry I brought her here, it's just she shouldn't die. No human should die from our destruction we're bringing about this world."

"You're right. We're bringing on this destruction, and they're suffering through it." Eva said. For a girl who didn't look it, she was incredibly intelligent. The way she speaks was like listening to an encyclopedia. "But we have to remember, if we don't fight to our true strength, then Chaos might as well just destroy us now." Danny added.

"Yes, Chaos won't stop at nothing to absolutely kill innocent kids, especially if they're part of The Twelve." Lucifilus stated. I clenched my fist thinking about death, and I didn't like it one bit. The fact that my blood would be spilled across a floor with Chaos laughing over my dead corpse made me absolutely terrified for once. "You know it would happen eventually."

"Shut up Chaos!" I yelled out loud. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, and I smiled nervously. "I'm sorry, I was talking to myself."

"Right, anyway, our next objective is to activate another Spirit so we may have an army ready for Chaos."

"Will we really be able to activate all twelve Spirits fast enough? Won't there be some complications in the way?"

"Yes, but I think we'll be able to activate and find them fast enough so we won't have those problems." Lucifilus walked back and forth, thinking of something that remained hidden to us. I looked at Eva, and her face glistened as the stars rotated around the galaxy above The Library. "I got it," The Spirit said, ruining the mood. "If we activate them one-by-one in different locations of the United States, Chaos will bring only some of his army to us. Maybe, if we're lucky, he'll send none at all." Yeah right, that idea is probably the worst. However, I wasn't in the mood to argue about ideas considering that I just found out I'm most likely the betrayer. "So whose Spirit should be next to being activated?" Achilles asked us. I looked around, and Eva turned away shyly. "Eva." I stated. In the corner of my eye I could see Danny's mouth drop not all the way to where it as noticeable, but a good inch or two. I don't know why his jaw dropped, but I didn't care. "Are you sure?" Eva questioned. Her left hand grabbed her right wrist, and I only nodded. "Yes, I am sure." I told her. She giggled under her breath, and from the side of my eye I could see Danny rolling his own eyes.

All of us walked to the Spirit sanctuary, and looked at the nine pods that were left to be activated. Each light had a story, but only one could be activate. Eva looked at me with confusion in her eyes, and I mouthed the word 'choose'. She looked back at the Spirits, and sighed. "Go on now. It's not like you'll be picking the wrong one." Lucifilus explained. I looked at Danny who seemed to not want any part of me, and I felt a wave of confusion sweep over me like a tornado. "What did I do wrong?" I asked myself.

"Maybe it's because you chose Eva over him." The voice that persuaded me to go insane told me. "Danny wouldn't get mad at a silly thing like that, and who are you anyway?"

"My identity should remain hidden from you until the time is right. However, I could tell you that I am from your past. As for your situation, have you thought to think that you may mean more to Danny then you think?"

"Are you suggesting that what Danny is to me, which I have no idea at this point is, then I'm to him?"

"You sure are not the dumbest person alive, however you do have your faults. Danny's past is dark, Nathan. It makes what your ancestor did sound soft. You shouldn't mess with him even before his true potential is maturing."

"So you're saying that Danny is stronger then his regular host powers?"

"Yes, but so do you. You have powers far higher then what these Spirits had offered you, all you need to do is give me your body so you may be MY host."

"No! My body is for no _thing_ to be in control of! I don't care if you're Lucifilus, Brother Samuel, or even the Devil himself! My body is no one's property!"

"Such a pity to have such a good talent wasted on a pitiful excuse for a s-"

"Nathan, what's wrong?" Lucifilus interrupted. My concentration was back on the scene, and I felt stupid when everyone looked at me with his or her confused face. "Nothing. I'm just a little tired. When can we sleep?"

"When Eva activated the Spirit, you guys must travel to a Tourcoach bus stop, and then head to your next destination." Lucifilus explained. Tourcoach was a bus that took passengers all across the United States. It was a very nice way to travel, and the service is always the best. Eva grabbed one of the pods that had an orange sun-like light. She stared at the lock like it was the most complicated thing that was created She looked at me once more, and my face urged her to try. "Okay." She sighed finally. Lifting her hand, she waved it towards the lock, and it quickly opened. The orange light raced outside of the capsule, and I fell backwards as it charged towards me. "Well!" The light sighed. It was a female voice, and the light began to take form. A forty-year-old woman with the robe of a judge was standing before us. She had brown hair, pale white skin, and green eyes. It felt like she was staring at me with a forest in her eyes. "The war has started again? Now look at what you idiots have done!" The Spirit yelled. I clenched my fist as the new Spirit spoke, and looked at Achilles, expecting a comment from him any minute. Instead, he rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, attempting to ignore the girl. "I also see that we have hosts. My name's Lafrenze, and from what I'm looking at: you're pretty acceptable hosts. What did they do, bribe you?"

"More like forcibly kidnapped, but whose to blame?" I joked. Lafrenze chuckled, and turned towards Lucifilus. "And I believe this is your dimension? I appreciate you for showing the least bit of dignity, and cleaning this dump." She rudely stated. Lucifilus shrugged, and turned towards Achilles who sighed with his head down, shaking it in dissatisfaction. "What's wrong Achilles? Still mad because I surpass you?"

"Would you please just stop and pick a God damn host already?" Danny exploded. He didn't look like he was in the mood to waste time, and I could tell Lafrenze knew that too. "Right, very well. I will now choose my host." She sat down on the floor to meditate, and I cuffed my hands nervously. "Lucifilus, what about our parents? Wouldn't they be worried?" I asked. Danny's eyes widened, well Eva's remained melancholy. Lucifilus was just as surprised as us. "I completely forgot about your parents. This could be a bigger problem then we thought." Lucifilus suggested. My mom and step-dad would go berserk if they learned about what I did. They wouldn't even believe me, I'll be sent to a mental hospital by the end of the night. Lafrenze's eyes fluttered open, and she smiled. "I got it! Her name is Ann Davison. She lives in California, but she left for Sedona, Arizona today." She noted. Sedona wasn't that far from California. My family did take a trip there last summer. It was hot as hell, and it took like a day or two to get used to the dryness in the air. "Now, what are we going to do about our parents?" Danny asked.

"We could kill them…" Achilles suggested with an evil smile and a deathly gleam in his eye. We all gave him a questioning look, and he shook his head. "I was only joking." He stated, "Besides, how would we plan such a death in the matter of a car ride?" I began to think, but it seemed like all possibilities were impossible. "We could tell them the truth?" Danny suggested. I looked at him with a strange face. "That idea is worst than Achilles. I hope you know that."

"I've never really lied to my parents before to be honest. Well, parent. My dad left when I was young."

"So did mine. He left when I was three, wish I knew why." I admitted.

"My dad left before I was born, well, he really died." Danny added. I had no records of my father, or could even remember how he sounded. I do know however that he is still alive, and I long the day to meet him. My step-dad is probably the biggest jerk on the planet! My mother married him when I was five, and at first he seemed nice, but that's when things went downhill. When I was seven, my step-dad grabbed my mom's arm with brute force, and threw her down to the floor. My eyes were flooded with tears, and I screamed at the man who was abusing my mother. There was darkness and pain where my heart was, and I heard a voice from beyond. "Listen to her scream; your own mother. Such a pity to watch the innocence fall short of the dark." And now I know who, and what that voice was. It was an evil created by darkness, a spirit resting in Hell for eternity. The thing talking to me was Chaos.

"I got it! A summer camp!" Lucifilus suggested. We all looked at each other, thought about, and smiled in satisfaction. "Okay, give me all your addresses and we'll pile into a van in the physical world.

There was one thing I didn't understood when we got to the physical, and it was the fact that we were teleported to a rent-a-car store. "When you teleport physically to and from The Library, we pick the destination we want to teleport to."

"Why don't we just use that instead of driving all the way to Arizona?"

"The teleporting only has a five mile radius. Even if The Library had enough power to teleport us to Arizona, it would till be useless." Lucifilus explained. I bet if The Library weren't it its weakened state, then it would have enough power to teleport us great distances. The car was a Toyota truck. It was glazed red with a black interior. It had two seats in the front (a third in the middle of the two for anyone skinny enough), and four in the back. Lafrenze and Gabriella decided to stay in The Library, fearing they would only get in the way. We all pilled into the truck, and rode to our first destination: my house.

I have to say the car trip wasn't the most interesting time I had in a car. The speed meter rarely hit twenty, and Lucifilus brought out his tapes of classical music to "educate" our minds. "Can't we put something better on like Eminem, Little Wayne, or even Elmo?" Danny asked. We all chuckled, but Lucifilus paid no attention. I looked outside the window, and wondered how all of it would be under Chaos's hand. McDonald's were sprawled all around this town, at least on every block. We passed by the high school that I would be going to this year, and a deep melancholy swept over me like a deep blanket. "You okay?" Danny asked well he bumped his shoulder with mine. I was stunned at first, and looked around. "Yeah, just a little tired." I lied. He nodded, unsure if I was telling the truth or not. The car jerked to a stop, and without me even knowing we were at my house.

Lucifilus knocked heavily on the door, and it swung open quickly. My mother pushed everyone out of the way, and embraced me. My lungs were being punctured, and my skin began to turn blue. "Mom…" I struggled out. She let go slowly, and looked me in the eyes. "Are you alright? You had me worried sick! Who are these people? Is this your girlfriend?" I was overwhelmed by the questions, and began to back away. "Mrs. Rodriguez. My name is Lucas," I cringed when Lucifilus spoke his name without even knowing it. "I'm a camp counselor over at Eagle Rock camp. It's in La Verne, so it's not that far. However, we advise you not for you to visit. Nathan showed interest in the many activities we do, and he wanted to ask your opinion on going." Lucifilus stated. My mom looked at me, and I smiled. "Please mom, I want to go so bad!" I agreed. She sighed, and looked at Lucifilus. "Free?"

"Absolutely Mrs. Rodriguez."

"Okay, but give me an hour to put his clothes and supplies packed."

Our next stop was Danny's house. Knowing Danny, I really didn't know what to expect from his family. He was so outgoing, yet dark. "Have any siblings?"

"Just an older brother and a younger sister."

"What are their names?"

"My sister's name is Lexi, and my brother's name is Patrick. Lexi just turned seven, well Patrick is a senior at high school." He explained. I assume since Danny's dad died before he was born, then Lexi was apart of a different husband. However, Danny said his mother was single, but I didn't puzzle on it for long but it did make me wonder.

We traveled across town from San Dimas all the way to La Verne. La Verne was a rival town of San Dimas, and each year they have this big football game called Smudge pot where the two high schools—San Dimas and Bonita—face each other. Danny lives sort of close to Bonita, maybe because his brother had to go there. His house was a normal two-story home at the end of a small culdesac. The house was a seashell white with a giant oak door. The driveway had two cars in, one for his mom and the other most likely his brother's. They had a white side-gate where a small vanilla Labrador barked at our approach. "Come on, let's get this over with quickly." Danny reached into his back pocket for his key, but the door opened before he could even turn. "Danny!" A young girl screamed in the doorway as she flung herself into his arms. Danny's eyes were shocked for a second, but he somehow caught the girl in his arms. "How are you Lexi?" He asked. She looked around seven with short blond hair tied with a red ribbon. She had black eyes, and a toothless smile. "I lost my baby tooth Danny, now my big girl teeth are going to grow in!" I looked closer and saw three teeth rising out of her gums. "Nice." I murmured inside my mouth. We all walked inside, Danny still leading with his baby sister still in his arms. "Mom?" He called for his mother. Instantly, a strand of blond hair stuck of from the doorway that lead to the kitchen, I assume. "Daniel, is that you? We've all been worried sick!" The lady asked emerging from the kitchen. She looked around 40 to 50 years, and wrinkles marked her face. To be honest, she had a fat chin and loose skin on her neck. She wasn't the skinniest woman I have ever seen, but she wasn't the fattest. Her face was red, maybe from working in the kitchen for long, and her hair was in a 50's hairstyle. "Mrs. Barnes, my name is Alex. I run a ca-"

"Daniel Barnes! You never said we were having guest! Oh, one second, please would you sit as I bring some refreshments." She stated well prancing into the kitchen. I looked behind me, and noticed a white, wooden chair with a pink polka-dot cushion. I sat down, and took in the interior of the house. We were in the living room; rooms that no one seems to have touched. There's the door behind me, and then farther down the hall is the living/dining area. I'm guessing the door Mrs. Barnes went into was the kitchen, and it connects to the dining room on the other side of the house. Above me was the second-floor, and it was easily visible from my position. A room with the door wide open had light-blue walls, and I assumed it was Lexi's. Two doors were closed, the master and Patrick's. And lastly Danny's room, but it wasn't visible from where I was. The door that lead Patrick's room finally opened, and a boy that looked like Danny, but had short hair came out. He was obviously Patrick, and I could tell from his appearance he had just woken from a nap. Upon seeing us downstairs, he traveled down the steps, and slipped behind us into the kitchen. Mrs. Barnes came out with a giant tray of lemon squares, and offered us each one. Of course Danny took one, but none of the other guest did. When the tray got to me, I looked and saw a "you better take a square" look on Lucifilus's face. I smiled, uneasily, and took two lemon squares. She smiled with gratitude, and set the tray on a table next to me. "So, what are you again?"

"As I was saying before. My name is Alex, I'm a camp counselor at Eagle Rock camp down the street next to the creek."

"I didn't know we had a creek around."

"It was built last weak? Anyway, we came to the school to do a little announcement, and got a handful of kids wanting to participate, Danny was one of them."

"And who are these kids?"

"My name is Nathan Rodriguez."

"And I'm Eva Garay, a pleasure to meet you." The mother gave a pity smile to both of us, and looked at Danny with confusion. "Danny, do you REALLY want to go?"

"Yes mom, I want to do this." He responded. There was a long pause between us all, and all you could hear was the sound of cabinets closing. Mrs. Barnes's face stared at me with wide eyes, and I looked away afraid. She gave a huge sigh, and began to speak. "Okay."

"Thank you mom!"

"On one condition!" There was utter silence between all of us. Patrick came out of the kitchen with a glass of water, and Lexi marched down the stairs. "You have to take you brother and sister with you." I began to choke on the lemon square well Patrick did the same with his water. "Oh," Mrs. Barnes said, rising from her seat to get something. I couldn't stop coughing, and Lucifilus came towards me to pat my back. The square passed through my chest, and Mrs. Barnes came with a glass of water. I drank the water with huge gulps, and felt instantly better. "Yeah, going to camp with Danny and friends!" Lexi shouted with a delight smile on her face. It was bad enough we had one pure mortal in The Library, and I don't think Lucifilus will accept anymore guest. "Fine," of course. "We'll accept the rest of your children." Lucifilus accepted. I looked at him with alarming eyes, and he winked to tell me not to worry. "But mom," Patrick began to speak. "No but, you have to be there for your sister." There was grumbling from Patrick, and Danny wasn't too thrilled about the situation either. "Go pack, your leaving in 30 minutes." Mrs. Barnes suggested. I started to think that we're going to need a bigger vehicle then we anticipated.

The bus that I "borrowed" from my Uncle was teleported to the front of the house, and I was in Danny's room watching him pack. Across the hall I could see Patrick's room, and how he angrily threw clothes into a suitcase. "What do you think Lucifilus is planning?" Danny asked as I stared blankly down the hall. "I don't know, but I think he knows what he's doing." I suggested. His bedroom was a tan color, and it was very compact. His bed was squishy—I should know because I was sitting as he shoved clothes into the suitcase next to me. It was striped of red, blue, and tan, and I bounced up and down till he looked at me. "Having fun?"

"As a matter of fact, I am!" He chuckled, and zipped his suitcase up. He patted it twice, and looked at me. "You ready?" He asked, and I nodded.

Lexi came marching down the steps with a pink, floral suitcase fumbling behind her. Patrick followed with a look of anger on his face. "Are you all ready?" Lucifilus asked us. Apparently they went to pick up my stuff from my mother well I waited with Danny. We walked to the door well Danny's mom waved goodbye as we entered the bus. Something was instantly different about this bus compared to others. It was a lot larger then it looked outside. Lucifilus jumped into the driver's seat, and closed the door. "Lucifilus, why does this place feel strange?" I asked. He smiled at me, and pulled a lever located on the roof. The whole bus stretched, and a giant arena popped out in the back. "Danny, what kind of camp is this again?"

"This is no camp Patrick, and I did not plan for you and your sister to join in on our little 'parade'." Lucifilus explained. We told Patrick the story of The Ancient Order, and how this whole thing began. Lexi played in the stadium well we told Patrick. "So, we're not supposed to be here, are we?"

"You're not intended to be here, no, but I guess we could find a place. We do still have Jessica in The Library. Danny, Nathan, do you mind taking Patrick and little Lexi to The Library?"

"No problem, but how?" It would be impossible to transfer two mortals into The Library, but I suggest Lucifilus had a plan. "Do you see the arena? It's the same one you did your test in. Although it may look stretched inside, it's really normal size outside. Anyway, their arena is a gateway from the real world to The Library."

"So, this bus is now apart of The Library too?"

"Only as long as I want it to be. Which would be about three hours as we travel to Downtown Los Angeles against five o'clock traffic." He wasn't joking…

"Alright, come Lexi, we're going to go to camp." I lied, walking into The Library. Patrick followed with his own suitcase, and his little sisters.

"So you guys are like superheroes?" Patrick asked as we walked the bookcase jungle. I nodded, but felt the word superheroes were a choice. "We're were forced though. Prophecy is what gives us our powers." I noted. We finally reached the center of The Library, and I looked around to see any signs of life. "NATHAN!" I heard before getting tackled to the ground. I noticed the brown hair, and knew instantly who it was. "Jessica, are you okay?"

"Yes oh my GOD it's been days since I've seen you!"

"Time moves slower here, well really it moves depending on Lucifilus but it's mostly slower."

"So it's still June 9th?"

"Yes, how are you feeling? This is all so new to you."

"I'm good. After I woke up, Eva came to explain what happened, and this whole twelve business. I'm just happy to see you doing fine!" She said kissing my cheek. My face got a little red, and I chuckled. We got up from the floor, and took Patrick and Lexi to the rooms.

There was clashing of glass coming near the arena, and Danny and I both looked at each other. "This isn't good," I said, leading the way to the bus. I was about to enter the bus when a Caelidaemon jumped in front of me, and threw me to a bookshelf. I looked and saw Lucifilus was missing, but a light on the room with the words "auto-pilot" was lit. "Thought you could get rid of me?" The voice was familiar, and I clenched my fist as I remembered. "Mrs. Frick?" She smiled with her sharpened fangs, and I squinted my eyes as a cloud of her bad breath mirage my face with a fog of green smoke. They were toxins, and I began to lose filling to my limbs. The demon smiled at me, and I attempted to struggle away, but it was useless. "Leave him alone!" Danny yelled well jumping on the demon's back. She squawked, and I smirked as he rode the sky-demon's back. "Nathan!" Gabriella said running towards me with a potion in her hand. She made me drink the potion, and instantly I began to feel my body again. I jumped into the air, and activated my staff. "Thank you Gabriella, now go and find Lucifilus and Eva. I fear the worst for them." She smiled, and ran towards the bus section. Danny collided into the bookshelf next to me, and the Caelidaemon charged towards him. I got in front of Danny, and summoned an Astral Barrier. She broke through it, and threw me to the side. "You think your silly little magic will defeat me?"

"I'm not trying to defeat you," I said getting up slowly. "I'm trying to kill you!" I yelled well throwing a star towards her. She hissed at me, and dodged the star effortlessly. I grinned as she glided towards me, and I pointed my staff directly to her face. "STAR," I yelled throwing my staff towards her. Right before it made contact, I said the final words to the spell. "CATACTLYSM!" I yelled, and the staff exploded in Mrs. Frick's face. A bright light blinded me, and I shielded my eyes away from it. "RELEASE!" I heard Lucifilus yelled, and the light instantly stopped. I looked at Lucifilus who was standing in between the two sectors. "Lucifilus, what happened?"

"That damn bird threw me into the deepest section of The Library."

"Where are Eva and Gabriella? Were they with you?"

"They retreated, but right now we have bigger problems." Danny began to emerge from the debris, and I ran to his side. "Are you all right?"

"I thi- GAH! Call Gabriella quickly, my legs…"

"No time, we have a bad situation."

"What is it?"

"LOOK!" I looked at the bus section of The Library and saw monsters spilling into the bus, and my jaw dropped. "How did they get in here?"

"She must have brought them here? Anyway, it's not good to just stand here; we need to fight! I'll go get Eva and Ann, meanwhile, you guys hold them off long enough for me to return."

"Lucifilus, I don't think we can do this! What if we fail?"

"You won't fail!"

"BUT WHAT IF WE DO!" Lucifilus grabbed my shoulders, and shook me. "You won't fail! You have done this before." Time was moving rapidly, and I stared at the invasion breaking into The Library's barrier. I squinted my eyes in pain, and I went into my hysteria form. "Fine then… LET'S FINISH THIS!" I yelled, my voice intertwining with Samuel's.

Chapter 6: We head to Arizona

The monster army had an array of new and old demons, and I tightened my grip on my staff looking at the number try to break through the barrier. Although weakened, The Library's barrier was strong enough to hold the monsters for a short amount of time. The multitude all had the Eye of Chaos somewhere on their body, whether it is on their forehead, neck, arm, back of their neck, anywhere you could imagine, it was there. The seven-pointed star glistened on the palm of my head I was in my insanity mode, ready for anything to defeat me. I looked over at Danny who had fear in his eyes. I could tell this was a lot to take in for him "You scared?" He asked me. I didn't know how to respond. There was a bitter wind that broke the silence between us, and the monsters were getting enraged. I calmly walked the arena; this may be the last moment of my life. I started to think back on the time my step-dad threw my mother. There was a fire burning in my heart longing for revenge. Chaos began to speak in my min. He said: "With every minute you grow stronger, but you'll never have enough power or time to be as strong as I." I clenched tighter on my staff. The demon was only telling lies, and I could feel Lucifilus in me again. My eyes were wide, and I raised my staff towards the army. The barrier broke, and the army charged towards me. A mixture of Cyclopes, Yetis, Veloxdaemon, and Caelidaemon were racing towards me. "Star Dash!" I yelled well running towards the army. I jumped over the whole army, and landed on the bus. I smashed the emergency exit on the roof, and climbed on top of the rood of the moving bus. I didn't wait for Danny to come, and I began to fight the monsters as they climbed on the rood. I chucked stars towards them, and watched as they slowly evaporated into a black liquid. "Cosmic rush!" I yelled well creating a wave of cosmic energy. It blasted against a hoard of monsters, and I winced in pain. The monsters were a lot weakened, but the more they came: the weaker I became. I tried to throw another star, but all that come out was a simple puff of smoke. I had used all my energy, and the beasts surrounded me. Something shined in the corner of my eye, and slashed through a Caelidaemon. Danny raced towards me, and protected my weakened body. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm out of energy though. I won't be much of use anymore. They seem to keep coming, and the more I defeat: the more they come!" I suggested. Danny slashed his diamond sword towards the army, and they backed away in terror. "Nathan!" Eva yelled, climbing through the emergency exit back of us. She held a potion, and forced me to drink all of. It dripped warmly down my throat, and I gained energy. I felt the cosmic energy flowing through my body, and I stood up slowly. "Pyro!" I yelled, and a ring of fire surrounded Danny, Eva, and I. I made the fire expand to the monsters, and they all turned to ashes. The fire quickly evaporated, and I fell to the ground in pain. Puke started spewing from my mouth, and I saw that it was white. Disgusting. Something was wrong with me, and I had no idea what was. "Nathan? Eva, go get Gabriela quickly!" Danny yelled, and he bent down to comfort me.

The air seemed to be escaping me, and my vision was becoming blurry. I could hear screaming from somewhere beyond, and my mind was being molded. My soul left my body, and I was travelling a vast distance of space and time. It was if I was dead, and was travelling towards heaven, but I knew that wasn't the case. I could hear people talking, and one of the voices I recognized right off the bat. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's exhausted, the powers he used were far then what his untrained body could handle."

"Will he be alright?"

"God only knows. Nathan… why?" Lucifilus asked. My life began to flash like a slideshow, only showing bits and pieces. "You lied!" I heard myself say. Turning around, I saw myself from the future yelling at Chaos. "You're the real betrayer! Why did you do it?"

"Oh Nathan, he can't hear your attempts anymore because his mind is mine."

"Chaos. You're sick! You created this fantasy, and make people believe in it. You offer power when you barely have enough for yourself. He may have sold his heart and body to you, but his spirit lives on."

"You tell yourself this false belief the he's still pure in heart, but really you have no idea who or what he has become. You're lying to yourself."

"I know that we will defeat you, but you lie to yourself about being strong. Watch us Chaos, you'll see." My reflection said. My eyes shot wide open, and I was on another bus somewhere. Danny was besides me resting with black headphones on. Eva was on the other side of Danny reading a book about potions—most likely from The Library. "What?" I asked. Danny's eyes shot open, and he looked at me. "You're awake? Are you okay?" He asked. I looked around, endlessly, noticing all the different people on the bus. A small Tourcoach logo was planted on the back of the seat in front of me, and it occurred to me that a great deal of real world time had passed. The morning sun broke over the reddened rocks, and around the bus people were barely waking up. "How long have we've been travelling?" I asked, having no idea even entering the vehicle in the first place. Danny looked at his iPod, and put it back into his pocket. "We got on the bus around midnight, traffic was horrible, and it's six o'clock right now. I say around five, six hours the most." He suggested. This is horrible, so much stuff happened and I was asleep for it all. "What happened?" I asked myself. Danny put on his earphones, and made the volume louder. "Nathan, are you awake? Can you come to The Library?" Lucifilus asked. I sighed, and my eyes closed out of force.

I came into The Library in the same room I spent the six days in. My body was a little sore when I got up, but not as much as it did in the real world. I opened the door and found my way to the center. "Lucifilus, you here?" I heard footsteps from behind a bookshelf, and held my staff towards it. "Who's there?" I asked, feeling wary. "Hold your fire, it's just me." A familiar voice said. Patrick came out behind of the bookshelf with his hands over his head. "I completely forgot you guys were in here; seen Lucifilus?"

"Last I've seen, he was in the place with the pods with the other Spirits. I feel like they're arguing about something." He answered. I didn't bother to ask how he knew this, and stated my goodbye.

The hallway was longer then I remembered, and a cold air flew through as I began to hear the sound of a discussion. It was loud, almost like the sound of a jet engine makes when it takes off. Achilles's voice was the loudest, but Lucifilus was always one notch higher. "Do you have any idea what he's possible of? He may not know it, but there's something inside of him that's simply not human!" Achilles yelled. I remembered the vision I just had, and chuckled. Maybe I'm not the betrayer after all. "He's possible of great things, both good and bad. However, I think I found a way to break the spell, so when it does happen: we can reverse it."

"Lucifilus, you and I both know that there's no force in the universe that could stop Chaos's persuasive way. He may win his heart, but he will never take away the bond." Gabriella stated. I want to know who the betrayer is. If it's not me, then who is it? "Lucifilus?" I asked, walking into the room like I didn't hear anything. "Nathan, I see you're finally awake. First off," Well he began to explain his long lecture, the other Spirits started to walk out of the room. Was I in trouble? "You should not use all your powers up at once. It would make your powers even weaker when you use them next. Secondly, your uncle's bus is ruined now; hope you would want to know that. Lastly, I want you to tell me the prophecy you received."

"Excuse me?"

"The prophecy, I know you experienced it again. Tell me the prophecy."

"It wasn't really much of a wordy prophecy, almost like it was a vision. I'll try however…" My mind went blank, and my eyes sent a ray of white light into the Space above. When I talked, it didn't sound like myself, but almost like I was a god talking to the people below.

"Deception and fear will make the six tear. Lies and death will break bonds and cause havoc. A great utopian like society will fall because of one person. The betrayer." The wind whirled around me, and it took the god-like powers away. I stood there without motion, and focused on the prophecy I had just foretold. "By God, this is not good at all." Lucifilus commented. The room began to shake, and I got worried. "What's happening?" I asked trying to find something to hold onto. Lucifilus stood calmly as it felt like the end of the world was occurring. "We are going to the Sanctuary of Prophecy." He stated, and the room began to twirl downwards. There was blackness, and I didn't know how far we would descend. The roof above us closed, and I looked around endlessly. "Lucifilus where are you?"

"Don't move, you have to be careful or you'll fall off." He answered. I heard the sound of war deep in the blackness, and backed away as it came closer and closer. There was a cold chill that came out of my breath, and I stood motionless as the sound suddenly stopped. There was a low sounding noise coming from under the platform I was standing on, and a light shined beneath. I could see everything now. It was as if the Spirit Sanctuary cut itself in the middle as a giant circle, and spun around a center pillar towards this unknown location. "Are you alright?" Lucifilus asked well touching my shoulder. I winced in fear as I felt the hand, and nodded without courage. "Are we finally there?" I asked. My stomach felt ready to launch itself out of my mouth, and my body wouldn't stop shaking. I felt like a piece of fruit that survived the blender. Lucifilus grabbed a torch from a chest inside the center pillar, and lit it with a white flame from his hand. He stepped off the platform that rotated around, and travelled the darkness. I watched as he slowly let go of the torch, and it floated in front of him. His hands softly opened, and the flame erupted in its place. All of a sudden, he closed his hands to a fist, and twirled around. The fire followed his body as he moved, and lighted multiple torches with a white flame. The whole room was lit up, and I was amazed at the architecture. The floor was made out of stone, but it was a white stone that reminded me of the Egyptian pyramids before people stripped the color away. The walls were the same kind of stone, but it had little compartments with a date inscribed on it. At the end was a giant picture behind a glass dome, and on the painting was a shrine with a little scroll on it. The art was a giant sun with multicolored rays on it, and on top of the sun was the first line of the great prophecy Lucifilus told about the new age. "Let our love ones fall, but rise like a rising sun…" I narrated to myself. I walked own the platform to meet Lucifilus in the middle of the room. "Welcome to the history of philosophy. This is where I keep all the prophecies that we have spoken. Only I know about this place, and I do not intent on other people finding out." He explained. I got his message right away, and I figured he did not want me to tell anyone about this. "Why are we here?" I asked. I felt super wary about being in a forbidden section of The Library, but seeing how I was with Lucifilus: I couldn't see the actual harm in being there. "Silly Nathaniel," Lucifilus said evilly. My eyes widened as Lucifilus's face melted off into a pool of black liquid. Involuntary, my body shifted into defensive position, and I stood my ground as I watch Lucifilus's body melt. "Believe what you can in this silly prophecy, but it is lie."

"You're one of Chaos's pawns aren't you?"

"What gave you the hint, my whole body melting?" The pawn said as it began to mold itself into another being. He changed into a girl with brown hair, and powdered skin. Her face was tempting, but I knew it was the devil's wine. "Don't you think Lucifilus could be the betrayer, I mean come on. A demon trapped inside of him, forcing him to go insanity at random moments."

"But that demon has been purified by a host body."

"Yes, but do you think that over the thousand years they've stayed dormant, the spirit of Lucifilus would become evil once again?"

"No, it wouldn't be possible. At least I think not…" I suggested. If the demon does come back, then what would happen to me? I figure a piece of Lucifilus would be inside of me because it was in me for quite some time. "In that case, it's better to kill you now then later." She stated well her teeth turned to razor sharp fangs, and her eyes turned to red dots. I summoned my staff quickly, and threw a star towards Chaos's minion. She, he, or it dodged the incoming orb, and pounced on me. I was about ready to get my face eaten off, but a light swam over me and crashed into the demon. She was sent flying into the glass dome that surprisingly didn't break, and I looked to see who had saved me. A bloody face, and a messed up arm stood on the platform. Lucifilus.

I ran to his side as he dropped his scythe in pain. Blood was coming from every visible part of his body, almost like his flesh was burnt off. His eyes had dark blue circle around them, and his face was drained from all color except the red of the blood. "He did this well we were heading down here. He's called a Transformatdaemon."

"Transforming demon?"

"Correct, he could take the form of almost every organism known to us. Apparently in my weakened state I can't help you, but I know you could do it." Lucifilus promised. The Transformatdaemon lunged its body towards me, and I jumped back in fear. She saw this, and landed on her hands. She started to kick me with in an awkward position. She kicked me in the stomach, and the air was knocked out of my lungs. As her body loomed over me, I gave up all hope in defeating her. Teeth like a rabid beast glistened at me as they highlighted her bulgy red lips. I flinched with fear, and she quieted me with a seductive hush. "There's nothing to be afraid of Nathan. I am not your enemy, but a friend. I only want you to accept me." She persuaded. I felt darkness closing up my mind, and her eyes turned into that of a lions. A mane spouted around the demon's neck, and she stood on all four well the transformation took place. Tanned fur grew on the demon's body, and claws activated when her transformation was complete. The lion growled at me, but my body was still weak to where I couldn't move. "You're weak," he deceived. "You're nothing but a boy with a broken past. You'll never live to other people's expectations."

"And you work for a being destined to fail. How does that feel?" He pounced towards me, but I rolled out of the way. He snarled at me as I found the strength to get up. My stance was weak, and I fell down with little effort. "Look at you, you're not even strong enough to hold your ground. What makes you think you can stop us?"

"Don't listen to the demon's deception-"

"I remember when Chaos did it; I remember when he finally rid the world of The Twelve." He stared at me with his cat eyes, and the room's torches blew away.

There was silence at first, and I heard the sound again. The sound of war. A bitter tear rolled down my face as I longed to be found by someone, and the longer I was in the blackness: the louder the noise became. I looked deep inside the dark, and a light shimmered dimly in the black. It grew brighter and bigger; almost like the headlights of a car driving towards me. 'Samuel, are you there?" I heard a voice say to me. It was Lucifilus. The light shined brightly, and a red sky formed into my vision. I was lying on the ground with a blanked over me. "Luca-, I mean-"

"Call me by my real name Samuel, Lucifilus." The man said. It was Lucas, but he grew dramatically. Last I've seen him, in this time plane; he had become insane, and blew up the church he lived in for thirteen years. I say he was in his mid-twenties, and hadn't slept in a while. "It's been a long time my old friend."

"It definitely had, how have you-"

"There's not much time for a heart-felt welcome, Chaos has risen and killed eleven members of the Order. I am the last. I understand if you loath me with such intensity, but I need you to help me for the sake of the future." I wondered how Samuel survived up until this pint, and then I remembered. I put an Astral Barrier over myself when Lucifilus used his Big Bang spell. "How much time do we have?"

"Less than a hour. Chaos had built an army of demons in order to defeat all of us. Samuel, he weakened Hell well he was in there."

"Do you mean he defied his creator? The Devil?"

"Yes, apparently Lucifer wasn't strong enough to defeat his own creation. He created a god-demon."

"God-demon, what is that?"

"A being strong enough to be declared as god, but used his, hers, or its powers for pure evil. They receive black swan wings, and a black crown with red rubies."

"Receive it from what?"

"From the Devil himself, he is the only one though, and I fear he will only be the one." Lucifilus's eyes were dazed into another world. A dark cloud began to form over the mountains ahead of us. The meadow grass turned dark and dead, and the flowers spotted around the area withered. In the distance towards the mountains, I could hear it: the army marching. Their footsteps were loud and in sync. "He's approaching." I whispered. It felt like a vacuum sucked all the moisture in the air. "Samuel, I'm sorry for what I did all those years ago. Whatever happens today, I want you to know you were always like a father to me." His voice was weak, and his body color turned pale. "You can't do this Lucifilus, you're not prepared."

"I know, but for the sake of the future: I won't let my world fall!"

"Lucifilus," my voice was cut off by the sound of the army, and I got my staff out quickly. A dense fog covered the meadow, and I saw a little light chasing towards us. "Get ready!" Lucifilus warned. I began to think of how I was going to get myself out of this. The first demon I saw was he. The Transformatdaemon. His smile was wicked, and I squinted in rage. "Star bash!" I yelled well a yellow light came out of my staff. This was the noise I was hearing in the void. This was, and still is war.

The demon was smashed away, and the lights in the room came on. I was staring at the lion's carcass, and my staff dropped on the floor. "Nathan, are you alright?" Lucifilus asked me. He wobbled towards me as I wondered what happened. "Did I?"

"I have no idea, the lights went on for only a second. When they came back on, he was like this."

"Great. I don't feel good." My vision blurred again, and I felt like throwing up. I fell on the cold floor.

When I woke up: I was on the Tourcoach bus with Eva and Danny. The bus has just stopped when I woke up, and surprisingly my body didn't ache. "We're here." Danny said. When we stepped off the bus: a warm air overran my body, and I wanted to go back into the air-conditioned vehicle. "This feels horrible!" Eva said well reaching into her bag for her sunscreen. "I don't know," Danny said well stretching his arms and body. "It actually feels kind of good." I looked at him like he was crazy. The sun was high up in the afternoon sky, and the ground in the distance had heat waves radiating from the pavement. We were dropped off at the peak of a mountain in small town called Sedona. The road winded up the mountain in back of us, and the bus stopped into the parking lot of the famous Slippin' Rocks. Left of us was a motel, and we we're going to head in there, but Lucifilus stopped us. "Wait," he began to say. I stopped in front of everyone, and looked around. "You see that red-headed girl coming off the bus?" Instantly, a girl who had a dark shade of red hair grabbed my attention. She had a white muscle shirt on with shorts that showed her pockets. She had a blue backpack on her back, and her legs were like a track star. "Yes, why?"

"She's the one! That's Ann, Ann Stevens." She moved towards the water-rocks, and I was startled how fast we found her. "What do we do?" I asked helplessly. Lucifilus didn't answer however, and I sighed in frustration. Something inside told me to follow her, but with what money? It costs five dollars per person to get in, and we don't even have a dime to our name. Also, who would let three kids in? No, we had to press forward! I looked around the fenced off area of the park, and noticed a small opening. I motioned towards Evan and Danny about the fence, and we ran towards it. "This place isn't well maintained." Eva stated well squirming through the fence. No one seemed to notice three kids slithering through the fence, and we got into the park without much trouble.

"Where could she have gone?" It seemed like she disappeared in the matter of seconds; which would be impossible unless something really bad happened. I looked around to see some kind of explanation for her instantaneous disappearance, but nothing sparked the idea that she was gone in thin air. "I just don't get it! Do you think Chaos has her already?"

"No, the Spirits would have told us something by now. Besides, we would have known something way before they told us." I explained. "But maybe it wasn't Chaos," the voice that made me reach the peak of my powers told me. "Maybe it was the Shadow 21; you never really know this things." It stated. A bitter wind turned my attention to a small slide that led into a mountain. It seemed safe enough to slide in, and maybe, just maybe Ann would be there. No, Ann was there; something in my body told me she was. "Danny, Eva, this is where she is. I could feel it!" I heard Lucifilus grunt in acceptance. I looked at the cave, frightened, but began to slide in. At first it was really dark, but then crystals with some sort of magic lighted the way. The water was high enough to slide easily on, although there were some rocks that stabbed my body on the way down.

I fell onto a platform where water surrounded the piece of land. The water was a murky green, and a stench was present. Crystals with the magic lighted the whole clearing, and I looked up at the last person I wanted to see. A man with a long black coat on was standing in front of me, and in his hand was Ann. He held her by the neck, blocking all the oxygen from her lungs. My rage rose when I saw the man, and he smirked evilly. The voice that persuaded me to go insane, that was he. "Long time no see." The man said. Danny and Eva came sliding down, and they landed on their feet next to me. "I see you made some friends the last time we met Nathaniel, which was what? Eleven years ago?"

"Nathan, who is this?" Danny asked. I looked at him with teary eyes, and closed them tightly. "This-, this is my father."

"Pleasure to meet you, my name is Ignatius! I have taken this body and made it a resting place for my spirit to dwell in. I am apart of the Shadow 21, and I'm sorry to say but," he got a black staff out with a blue sapphire in it. "You all need to die now." He threw a darkened ball of energy towards us, but I reflected it with my staff. It exploded a piece of the earth above us, and debris came down. I jumped towards Ignatius, and my staff shined with a bright light. "Take this!" I yelled, swinging my sword towards Ignatius. He blocked it with his staff, and pushed me backwards. I sided across the floor, and looked up with anger in my eyes. "Pitiful attempt my son, yet I do admire that you show some attribute of strength."

"Don't fool me you coward."

"I do not cope with what you are saying."

"You left me you freak. You left the woman you loved and your three year old son to fend for themselves."

"Amazing how you have this belief that I really care for you. I don't Nathaniel, not in the longest of times."

"You're sick, and you'll never feel the love that you'll always want!" I threw a star towards Ignatius, but he threw it away instantly. Tears began to roll down my cheeks as I fell to the ground helplessly. "There's no way I could do it…" I choked out. Eva crouched down beside me, and Danny activated his diamond staff. "You caused him so much pain, in yet you don't even care?" He asked my father. Ignatius only chuckled, and Danny seemed to get upset with him. Ignatius threw a black star towards Danny, but he dodged it. Danny jumped in the air with his sword held high. A light shined on the tip of the blade, and he sliced towards Ignatius. He dodged it, and kicked Danny away from him. "I do not respect your friends to fight your own battles Nathaniel; don't you know it's rude?"

"Since when do you care about anyone being rude?" I asked, getting up slowly with soreness pounding through my body. Ann was lying on the ground next to Ignatius, unconscious. "I might as well kill her right now, and ruin all your attempts in saving this world."

"I thought the Shadow 21 didn't want Chaos's plan to come true."

"We don't, but we also don't want The Twelve to be accepted in this society."

"And why is that?" I saw Ann rising with a trident in her hand, and knew that Lafrenze was talking to her well she was unconscious. I smirked as she stared at Ignatius with evil eyes. "It is only common sense, and if you don't believe it," Ignatius grabbed Ann's trident as she swung at him from behind. "Then I could not help you." He threw the trident into the murky water, along with Ann. He flew towards me, and grabbed me by my neck. The air was beginning to turn bitter, and I grabbed his hands involuntarily. "Let go." I struggled out. I began to squirm, but he did not let go. "I'm not here to be your friend Nathaniel."

"Let me go!"

"No, I will never let you go."

"LET GO!" I exploded, and a ball of light exploded between Ignatius and I. I kicked him in the face as I felt his grip un-tighten. "You were never my father!" I yelled with thunder in my voice. I threw a star towards him, and it exploded in front of him. A dark cloud came around Ignatius, and there was silence for the longest time. He flew out of the darkness of the cloud, and was coming towards me with amazing speed. He kicked me upward, teleported, and then kicked me down towards the ground. A puff of smoke surrounded me, and I felt dead. He stood over me with an evil smile. "You were nothing."

"You're right, but I did came from you."

"You being in The Twelve only makes you weak."

"And I guess that's what you all said back then in the past when the Shadow 21 died because of Chaos."

"If you were on our team then we will treat you so much better then these silly little sprits. We could grant you power."

"You only grant weakness! And I choose not to accept! YOU'RE NOTHING!" Ann jumped off the water, and stabbed Ignatius in the heart. His body was transformed into smoke, and he was gone as fast as he came. And this is when the war finally begins…

Chapter 7: Ignatius the Torn

The cave was quiet at first, and I fell to the ground crying. It's been eleven years when my father left my mother and I. "So, I guess this war has gone personal." Danny said well looking at his blade. Eva crouched down and rubbed my shoulder sympathetically. He tore us apart, and did not even care. "It's going to be alright, you'll see."

"No! It's not going to be 'alright'! Can't you guys see this is horrible? He's out to tear us apart; just like he did with my family." There was silence, and the only noise I was unaware of was the blood pulsing in my ear. I looked at Ann who just stood there with a confused look on her face. "I guess Lafrenze explained to you what happened? The prophecy, the war, am I right?" She nodded solemnly. "Come on," Eva said helping me up. "We have to get this mission back on track.

We get out of the cave by going farther into it. A natural forming staircase led to the top, and Lafrenze was waiting doe Ann to persuade her parents into letting her go to camp with us. Eva and Danny went into to the motel room to rest; well I stood on top of a rocky hill. I overlooked all of the parking lot, and noticed nothing was wrong. Tears started to form in my eyes, and I sat there alone crying as the sun rolled behind the mountains. "Nathan?" Lucifilus said coming from behind. This was the second time I've seen him outside The Library, and I felt better. "Lucifilus, I was just-" He put his hand up to make me stop talking, and I only wept. He came besides me, sat down, and embraced me as my tears stained his black robe. "I know how it feels to lose a father." Lucifilus said. My eyes instantly looked up at him, and I was shocked what he had said. "His name was Samuel. He wasn't really my father by flesh and blood, but our spirits were mixed."

"Did he have kids?"

"Yes, a son named Felix, and a daughter named Annabel."

"What connected you two?" I asked, and from the expression on Lucifilus's face: I could see he was very shocked. He spaced out into the falling sun, and behind us stars began to explode into the sky. "He was- uh, my foster parent. I was taken away from my home."

"That's sad. When my new step-dad came into the picture he was nice, but turned sour and abusive to my mother."

"Nathan, what I'm getting at is that you can't let your father control your destiny. You make your own future, and decided how you live it. Never let other people get in the way of your true potential." My Spirit said. He got up, and teleported back to The Library like nothing had happened.

I stood there for a moment as the night sky casted over the atmosphere. "Pondering will leave you no where." Ignatius stated inside my head. I looked around frightened, but then remembered. "Yes, but it will keep everything off my mind. How did you get in my head the first place, and how was I so unaware?"

"That's something I could accomplish. You could see our family passed it down. Just know one thing: I never left, and I'll never leave." He stated. I shook my head to get rid of the voice, but it did nothing. I looked down at the cliff I was on, and thought I could end my life so effortlessly. "I will defeat the Shadow 21 and you."

"You keep telling yourself that and see where it gets you." Ignatius stated. I stood up in frustration, and walked down the hill with my fist rolled up into a ball.

So many thoughts were swerving through my head as I walked across the street towards the motel. The sky was completely dark now, and a light lit up the doorway. The door wasn't locked, and it opened easily. My stomach twisted, and the blood blinded me. The insane mode Ignatius forced me to go in was activated. In the middle of the room were Danny and Eva kissing. They automatically stopped when the door opened, but I sill caught them in each other's arms. They had fear in their eyes when they saw me, and my focus was mostly on Danny. So many questions swerved through my head, and Ignatius changed. "You!" I grabbed Danny by the neck, and forced him against a wall. "Why did you do it? You know I love her!" Fear was pulsating from his body, but I did not care. Eva tried to me lose my grip, but I pushed her away with my free hand. "Feel it! Feel the rage deep in your heart! Watch it burn your mind to ash!"

"No Nathan," Lucifilus warned. "Don't listen to him! He I only trying to tear you all apart!'

"Danny, Eva, you guys need to get out of here now!" I finally said. I released my grip on Danny, and he sprinted out of the room. In the corner of my eye I could see Eva standing in the doorway watching as Ignatius slowly corrupted my mind. "What are you waiting for? Leave!"

"No. Nathan, this isn't like you. You have to snap out of it." I looked at her with blood-like tears flowing down my face. "Leave now!" I said menacingly well throwing a star at her. She ducked in time where it flew over her head, and hit the cliff I was sitting on. She got up, took a quick look, and then closed the door behind her.

I sat in fetal position in the corner of the motel, and turned off the lamp on the desk next to me. A ray of moonlight shined into the room and lit the corner halfway. Tears stained my cheeks as I attempted to stop crying. "No matter how much pain you'll cause me; no matter how many tears I'll cry! I will be stronger each time." I tried to persuade myself. Ignatius made my mind replay the image over-an-over again, until it was burnt in there. I couldn't believe my father was in control of me, and I hated it. "Don't you get it Nathan? The Twelve offers weakness, and this wouldn't be happening if you were in the Shadow 21."

"No Nathan! If you listen to their empty promises, then all prophecy is wrong!" Lucifilus explained. Could prophecy really by wrong? I got up, involuntary, and looked outside the window. Danny and Eva talking together is what I saw. Eva's lips moving well Danny's lips stood motionless. Rage spiked, and I opened the door quickly. "Release!" I yelled well sending an exploding star towards Danny. He threw it away by reflecting it with his diamond blade. I closed the door and leaned against it with tears constantly falling from my eyes. "Hurts don't it?" Ignatius tried to make me feel melancholy, but it did not work. The tears might have been falling, but they were warm on my cheeks. "I could stop this you know?" I looked up and couldn't believe what I was hearing. My father, caring? "I could make it where you cannot hurt Danny, almost like you love him." My eyes widened, and I looked up as if Lucifilus was there. "Please don't let him! Don't!" I yelled. It wasn't worth it. "Ignatius, do not do it!" Lucifilus pleaded along with me. All I could hear was Ignatius's evil chuckling. Tears of pain came out of my eyes as Ignatius formed feeling for Danny. I stared at the sky and screamed in pain. The feelings were all mixed up, and I wanted to die. "Ignatius, cease this madness now!" Lucifilus yelled inside my head. I began to roll across the floor, and clawed at my wrist. The scars weren't that damaging, but a thin layer of skin ripped open. I heard a knock, and I looked up. "Nathan? It's Eva, may I come in?" Her voice was a bittersweet sound to hear. I crawled back into the lightless corner, and tried to gain my sanity. "Come in." I said. The door opened quietly, and walked in hesitantly. Her eyes were covered in veins like she had been crying for some time. She sat next to me, and hugged her legs. "Are you okay?" She asked well hiccupping her words. From the look on her face I could see she thought I was a monster. "I'm sorry," she stated well clinging onto me. "I know you love me, it was just the heat of the moment."

"No, I should be sorry for the way Ignatius made me act. I know I can control it, but…" There was a long silence, and we sat there in the dark. "I LOVE DANNY!" I shouted involuntary, and covered my mouth with my hand. "What?" Eva said well giving me a derange look. I didn't know what to say, and I heard Lucifilus began to chuckle a little. "Okay, that isn't good." He stated. I smirked because I agreed with him. "Don't worry, Ignatius is making feel these bizarre feelings for Danny. It's not healthy one bit." I stated. Eva cuddled my body, and I put my arm around her. "Are you okay now?"

"Yeah, where's Danny?"

"Good question. I told him that we should not have done that; he agreed, but left walking towards the road." Eva suggested. Lucifilus gasped suddenly, and I looked up almost on command. "What's wrong?"

"Achilles is telling me that Danny's in danger! You have to find him quickly."

"EVA! Danny's in trouble! I don't know what, but Lucifilus and Achilles said that something bad is happening. We have to find him quickly." I suggested. Eva and I got up quickly, and ran out the door towards the road.

It was pitch black outside, and we could hardly see what was in front of us. Ann and Lafrenze came out of the darkness, and we rushed towards them hoping Danny was there. "Is Danny with you?"

"No, why? Has something occurred?" Lafrenze asked. I cursed under my breath, and looked around the dark parking lot. There was no sign of life on the road, but distant lights acquired my attention. It was just a regular truck, eighteen-wheeler with a large white crate on the back of it. It must have been supplies for towns farther up the mountain. He was going exceptionally fast for mountain driving, and I looked farther up the road to see a figure moving in the headlights. At first I thought it was a deer, but with careful examination I could see that it was not what I thought it was. In the distance was Danny, totally unaware that a truck was ramming towards him. Time began to slow itself again, and the feelings swirled inside of my head like a hurricane. Funneling itself, and in the middle was the eye of the storm; a tranquility that I could not reach. My mind went into hysteria, and I ran towards the street. The truck's horn was bellow in my ear, and the past was laid in front of me like cards. Fate wanted me to pick a random memory, but I did not want one. "NO!" I screamed. Thunder was in my voice, and the coyote's howled at the sound. Danny stood there, his head down as the truck was only yards away from him. "Teleport!" I said grabbing Danny's hand quickly. I felt the rush of the wind from the truck as I landed on top of Danny on the side of the road. Ignatius made my feelings come back, and I got up quickly trying to avoid the temptation. "Danny, are you all right?" I asked as he was lying on the floor with his head down. I could hear him mumble something under his breath, but the sound of squeaking brakes interrupted my concentration. I looked over at the truck that should have been driving up the mountain, but red brake lights blinded me as the door swung open. A middle-aged man with a gigantic beer belly came out, and had dark clouds around his eyes. He had blue denim jeans, a white undershirt with grease stains clearly visible, and a red plaid shirt. A dark black grip with a light gray side and chassis was intermingling with the fat truck driver's fingers as he raised it towards Danny."Danny, defend yourself!" He just kept mumbling to himself, and I got in front of him with my red ruby staff raised like a shield. The truck driver had the Eye of Chaos imprinted on his forehead, and I assumed Chaos brainwashed him to accomplish his dark deed. "Correct. I also fear what's happening to Danny has to do something about Chaos as well. You must defend him at all cost."

"I know, but why is he acting like this. It's almost as if he is sleeping."

"I don't know what Chaos is planning, but I know that prophecy is being completed, and this war is going to kill one person by the end of the summer." I could not believe what I was hearing. No matter what happens, the end of the summer will determine who will become victor. Whoever wins will be victorious against the other, and their dream will come true. We could not let Chaos win, not in an eon. "Using innocent people Chaos to take on your twisted plan? I got to say you're a bigger coward then I thought! You want to get rid of the human race, yet you are using them for selfish needs because you are too weak to face us like the great villain you say you are." I tried to sound menacing to where the truck driver may break out of the spell, but he only cocked the gun still aimed towards my head. I clenched my staff as I heard the gunfire, and I was too late. I waited for the sound of angels or demons to open my eyes, but only silence filled the void. I felt something radiating a warm heat in front of me, and began to open my eyes slowly. In front of me was a boy with black, spiked hair, a black button up t-shirt on with a red undershirt, blue jeans, and his head lowered to where it covered his eyes. The boy in front of me was also the boy that was behind me; it was Danny.

In his hand was the bullet, or at least what used to be the bullet. With a gust of wind the bullets remains flew from the palm of his hand. "It's impossible." I whispered to myself. Danny began to raise his head, and darkness shrouded his eyes in a mist. His diamond blade presented itself in front of him, and he wrapped his thin fingers on the hilt. "Lucifilus, how did this occur?"

"Too be honest, neither Achilles nor I know. It's like something sparked inside of him when the bullet was coming towards you."

"What's going to happen now?" I asked while Danny stood up straight. I noticed his seven-pointed star began to transfigure into something else, but he blocked it away from my eyesight. He sprinted towards the truck driver as the bullets flew left and right. He kicked the gun from the man's hands, but the truck driver grabbed a crowbar from the front seat of his truck. "Danny!" I yelled while running towards the fight. The driver swung his crowbar, but Danny dodged it effortlessly. He lunged his sword forward, but the truck driver stepped back and kicked Danny to the ground. I was surprised how the fat man was so quick, and how he could even get his foot from the ground. "How is he doing his?"

"I don't know, but something is not right. It's not even like they're fighting, almost like they are dancing."

"What are you talking about?"

"Danny isn't trying his hardest, and neither is the truck driver."

"You have to be kidding me? You're telling me that this isn't Danny's full power?"

"No, and I'm afraid to know what's fueling this sudden burst of energy." Danny got up from the floor, and whipped the spit from his face. He smiled at the truck driver, and twisted his sword in a fancy way. "You are stronger than I anticipated." Danny said; his voice sounded like there was gravel in it, which gave it a throaty tone. The man grabbed the gun from the floor quickly, and shot at Danny. There wasn't much time, and Danny raised his at head level. The bullet hit the sword, and it made the blade hit Danny with the side. He fell backwards, and landed into a coma. "Danny!" I said running towards him. The truck driver then made it clear that he still had a gun, and fired it in the air once. "Don't you dare try to touch him now, ya' hear?" The man said with a southern accent. "He be sleeping, you wouldn't want to wake him now, would you?" He asked with a derange, and twisted manner. I held my hands above my head, and my staff fell down effortlessly. There was no getting out of this, and I looked at Eva, Lafrenze, and Ann for help, but really what help was there? The man held the gun at eye-level, aiming it towards my head. A quick a painless death he wishes to deal with. If I was the one giving the death, I rather do it the slow a painful way. Continually shooting the opponent's kneecaps until he dies of lose of blood. However, I fear that Chaos doesn't want my death to be slow because he knows I'll find a way out of it. No, he wants it to be fast so he could rule this world, this sick and poisoned world. "Fine then, shoot me!" I say, spreading my arms in a suicidal position. "Get it over with so you may tell your master that your plan was a success."

"No, master wants all of The Twelve to be dead. If I kill just you, does not mean that the others will come back and continually activate more Spirits."

"Well you tell your master this. Neither of us is going to be dying for a long time, whether he likes it or not! You're playing the fool for an even bigger fool, and you're not even aware of it. You are brainwashed, forever to be a slave of the biggest joker on the planet! Still, I admire that you bring up an even harder challenge then the other daemons he sent. However, this is something we all have to finish, together."

"If you're done with this foolery, then can we commence?" He shot the gun, and I raised my staff to summon an Astral Barrier. The purple shield lighted around me, and the bullets bounced off with ease. I deactivated the barrier, and ran towards the man. He had a gun in one hand, and in the other was a crowbar. To be more specific on the gun, it was a .44 Sheppard Desert Eagle. Of course it was licensed to him; almost everyone in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, wherever has a gun. He fired at me at a close distance, but I surprisingly sidestepped my way out of it. I kicked the man in the gut, and he buckled over while the wind was knocked from his lungs. I found this the perfect opportunity to knock the gun from his hands, and kick him to the ground. He fell while the crowbar went flying, and I raced towards the gun. One chance, that's all I get. "Are you really going to kill him?" I heard Lucifilus say. I got the gun, and pointed it towards the truck driver. He instantly stopped trying to get up, and looked at me with wide eyes. "You're not really going to-"I cocked the gun, and he stopped talking. "Where is your master?"

"I cannot say. He did not permit me to give his whereabouts."

"Tell me where your master is now, or I'll swear to God I'll make this death a lot bloodier than it needs to be." I held the gun while my hand shook from the nervousness. He saw this, and took advantage of my weakness. "You're scared. You learned the most interesting thing today, and you hold that gun like a Chihuahua! You never want to kill people, and you think if you do then it would be the last thing you WOULD want to do!"

"He's only trying to get into your mind." Lucifilus said. "Don't let him poison you with ignorance."

"You don't want to have the blood of another person on your hands! You think it's the most horrible thing a human being could do to another human being. You're weak, and everything you do will be weak!"

"I'm not weak!" I shouted while pulling the trigger. There was a loud bang, and it was silent for a second. I dropped the gun down, and looked at where I hit. A black mark on the pavement right next to the man's smiling face. "I told you," he stated, and grabbed the gun. Before I could even think, my hysteria mode activated. I grabbed his wrist that held the gun. I clenched my teeth, and my eyes bulged out. I held the wrist with such force that he dropped the gun. I did not stop there. I picked him to his feet, and pressed him against the trailer while only holding him from his chubby wrist. The pain was so much for him that he couldn't breathe. "I told you I'll make it bloodier." I said while watching the red liquid trickle down his arm. His eyes began to roll, and he choked: "I'll tell you!" I let go of him quickly, but it was too late. I had killed probably the only suspect we had.

I watched from the window as Lafrenze parked the truck in a parking space, and I packed my things into a suitcase. We sent Danny to The Library, and we're going to meet him once we get into the truck and drive. We had no idea what was in the trailer, but we figured it would be something of good use to use. Especially if it came from Chaos. Eva, Ann, and I walked outside towards the trailer, and opened it with the help of Lafrenze. Inside was like a little room. Four beds hooked onto the sides of the trailer so it doesn't move, and a nightstand with a lamp. Of course all of these things were buckled down due to it being a trailer, but I find it ironic that Chaos would be sending this to us. "He must really care." Ann sarcastically said. We placed Danny's body onto a bed, and physically teleported ourselves into The Library.

"What's wrong with my brother?" Patrick shouted well pushing everyone away. Lucifilus tried to calm him down, but his brotherly love denied any kind of help. "It will be alright!"

"Alright? He looks half-dead and you're saying this is alright?"

"We're trying the best we could do Patrick. I know he's your brother, but this is a war you cannot fight."

"By hell I can't fight it! I'll destroy this Chaos fool, better than any of you can!"

"I'll like to see you try," I stated. Patrick looked at me with grinding teeth, fist clenched, and elbows arched. "You have no idea what we've been through in the past Nathan, so see your way out of it."

"He's going to be fine; now, if you stop worrying I would like to have time alone with him. If that's okay?" Patrick wanted to say something, but Achilles gave him a threatening look. Everyone fanned out, and I looked at Danny's body. He looked dead, but not. I took a seat on the couch next to the long bed he was laying on, and held his hand tight. Ignatius made me feel the feelings, but I forced myself to ignore him and remain sane just for this moment. "Danny, I don't know what happened back there. You changed, and I'm afraid." I looked, and noticed the seven-pointed star brightly shining red. I smiled, and closed my hand over it. "I need to know what's wrong."

"Hello Daniel," a voice said from the darkness. Danny saw a dark cloud approach him, and he floated backwards as the cloud came forwards. It circled him, but he wasn't afraid however. "Who are you?" Danny asked finally as the cloud made its third loop. "I am called by many names. But you may call me Chaos."

"So you're the beast behind all of this?"

"I could be, or I could not. Prophecy never stops changing you know."

"Just why are you here and more importantly, why am I here?" Danny asked. The shadow began to manifest into the form of a person, and Chaos chuckled as red eyes began to open in the shadow's head. "Fate has finally delivered us here. Over 1,000 years this was foretold we should meet. Isn't that interesting?"

"I guess, but I still don't get why I'm here."

"Always likes to get to the point, just like your God forsaken father."

"What about my father? How did you two know each other?"

"Long lost friends you may say. Although our friendship ended quite abruptly, but that's what you get when you double-cross me."

"You killed my father?"

"Oh yes, it was really an enjoyable death to do! I only wish you could see, oh, but I don't have that kind of time and power to show you."

"What do you want from me Chaos?" Danny yelled inside the void. His voice echoed throughout the blackness, yet Chaos was unimpressed. "What I want from you is your help."

"My help?"

"Yes, you are the one I've chosen out of all The Twelve to help me in succeeding in my plan to make this planet my evil fortress to take over other worlds in different dimensions."

"And where do I fit in this whole dream?"

"I want you to be my host body, so I may be strong enough when the time is right!"

"Why do you need a host body to be strong? Can't you transport yourself physically into the world?"

"No. That damn Lucifilus sealed away me from ever coming into the world. I need a host body to help me succeed! I need someone with your kind of power to help me win over this world!" Danny backed away in terror, and closed his eyes from the nightmare. "I…"

Danny's eyes opened, and he looked at me with a tired expression on his face. "Nathan?" He asked. I embraced him, and he laughed weakly. "Danny, are you alright?"

"I think, where are we?"

"We're in The Library! Don't you remember?" I asked. Danny got up, and looked around the area. We were in the center, and everyone went into the Spirit Sanctuary to activate the next Spirit. "Where is everyone?"

"They went into the Sanctuary well I told them that I wanted to be alone with you."

"I can't remember anything that happened, is that a bad thing?"

"I don't know, I think Lucifilus would have to take a look at you once we activate Magnus, the next Spirit. Listen, I know what you did to Eva. I know you guys kissed, but really it wasn't your fault. And I acted like an ape when I saw you and I apologize."

"It's okay, I think."

"No, it's not. What's wrong with you Danny? You're acting really strange."

"I don't know, it's like my eyes have been opened to a broader view."

"Well whatever is, it needs to stop. I can't be worrying for you all the time; it's not good for me, or either of us for that matter. When you fainted, we didn't know what to do, and that resulted in us doing nothing. Listen, I can't let you get hurt anymore." He smiled, and we hugged in the middle of the room. He was like a brother to me now, but the feelings Ignatius formed burned inside my head like the bluest flame possible. "Come on, let's go find the Spirits so we could activate the new one!"

When everyone saw Danny they hugged him, and I looked at the wall of pods that were waiting to be activated. "Lucifilus is this one next?" I asked pointing to the black aura that was hidden inside a pod. In the aura I saw water and fire at the same time. I didn't know what it meant, but personally I didn't care either. Lucifilus came out of the circle they created, and looked at the pod with a stern face. "Yes, this one is Magnus. He was once a part of the Shadow 21, but swore his loyalty to us."

"What made him quit the Shadow 21?"

"Because the boss Nicholas was a jerk." I widened my eyes at the name Nicholas. Could they be the same person? The person that looked like Danny, but probably was a coincidence? Maybe this is one too! "Is Nicholas still alive?"

" I don't believe so, whoever the ruler of the Shadow 21 is remains a mystery to us. However, I do feel they're slowly making their appearance." Lucifilus suggested while getting the pod down from the top of the shelf. He handed it to me, but I pointed towards Danny to show that he was going to be activating it. He smiled unceasingly, and waved his hand on the seven-pointed star lock. It spun around, and opened while a puff of smoke danced across the room. It began to take the form of a skinny man; with glasses is what the image I imagined. Color started to fill in, and the man had a black thermal shirt on with long gray pants. He had horn-rimmed glasses with black mop-like hair. He smiled at me, and then looked depressingly at Danny. "Is it time for war?" He asked in a surprisingly deep voice. Lucifilus nodded, and Magnus nodded with him. "I do believe these are the host bodies your prophecy states. It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Magnus." He said, shaking everyone's hand except for Danny's. "What number am I?"

"You're number five, why?"

"At least I won't be last. Got a good middle number." There was a glare in his glasses, but he fixed it by pushing them up a bit on his nose. "I do believe I have to pick a host now; I'll try not to go too far for you all."

"Thank you, we will greatly appreciate it." Lafrenze said. Magnus sat down on the floor, and began to meditate." Is he socially awkward?" I whispered to Lafrenze. "Why do you say that?"

"Just 'cause."

"Well think about this! What if he was normal and everyone in the world was socially awkward. How would that make you feel?"

"You just exploded my mind right now! Amazing!"

"You're welcome dear."

Magnus came off the ground, and the process was complete. He explained that his host was named Kelvin, and he lived along the Laughlin River. Laughlin was a town in three different states: Arizona, Nevada, and California. You could see the difference by standing in the middle of the Colorado River, and turning your body. It was a fun place to vacation, but for us it was no vacation. "What are we waiting for?" I asked. "LET'S GO!"

Chapter 8: Laughlin Lunatics

We decided to sleep in The Library until morning in the real world began, which was hardly three hours in The Library. It was exactly six in the morning when we began driving towards Laughlin, and we didn't need to sleep in the beds but used them as a seating device to plan how we were going to get the new host. "This is your first host body you're going to find Ann, are you nervous?"

"Not really, but can you answer me why this feels like a big dream?"

"I felt like that when Lucifilus talked to me. However, this is far from a dream. " The road was bumpy as we were climbing up and down hills of rocks. Danny laid on his bed, facing the direction of the wall while Eva, Ann, and I pressed forward with the conversation. "I'm just waiting to see what's going to be in our way this time."

"This time? You mean there was others?"

"Well, yeah. When Danny and I found out about The Twelve, there was a member of the Shadow 21 we had to face. When we found Eva, Chaos made a volcano of monsters appear out of the ground and attack us. Then, when we found you, Ignatius including a brainwashed truck driver was after us." I explained. Ann's eyes widened, and shifted her position in bed. "We know this may feel like a giant dream, but believe me. It's far from it." Eva said.

After sitting there in silence for a half a hour just twiddling my thumbs on my phone with no one to text, I decided to head to The Library and have a little talk with out guest. "Patrick?" I asked, knocking on the door to Danny's brother's room. There was silence at first, but than I heard a whisper through the cracks. "Who is it?" It responded. I thought it was quite obvious who was knocking at the door, but considering he probably just woke up: I presented myself. "It's Nathan," I answered. "We need to talk."

"Talk about what? I just woke up, don't you know what time it is?"

"Eight?" I shook my head not to get sidetracked with anything. "Open the door, or I'll swear I'll open it by force!" I threatened. There was more silence, and then a latch sounded like it was unhinging. The door open, and Patrick stood there with a white t-shirt on, including black PE type shorts. I could clearly see from his bed that he had just woken up because the sheets were all in a mess. "Good morning." I said while walking in. I didn't know how to talk to a senior in high school, especially one that probably hates every fiber in my body, but I figured it would be like talking to an older version of Danny. "What do you need to talk about?" He said while fixing his bed to sit on. I sat down on a chair in the small room, and placed my feet on top of a coffee table. "This whole The Twelve, and how you guys shouldn't be involved in it in the first place. You have to remember this isn't a dream; this is life, and more specifically death. If something bad were to happen to either Lexi or you, I just don't know how to respond to it."

"I do feel my actions regarding my brother last night was a little dramatic, however you have to remember that we've been through a lot. I figure he's told you about our father, correct?"

"He only told me what he knows. I'm guessing you have the whole story since you're older?"

"Yes, but you have to remember, I was young as well when this whole thing took place. I hardly even remembered what happened." He got up, and went to the wall that sat left of me. There was a button on it, and he looked at me with worried eyes. "Lucifilus did not know this was here when he gave me this room, and if you tell him than I swear."

"I won't." I reassured him while walking towards the wall. He looked at the wall nervously, and pressed the button. The wall turned translucent, but disappeared to where a hallway into another room appeared. "What is this?" I asked, bewildered how Patrick knew anything about it. "The room at the end of the hall recalls one person's thoughts, and transmits them into a vision for another person to see." He wisely said. He walked down the hall and stepped into the room. Without him moving, the lights turned off and a portal filled the doorway. There was a long pause, and I determined if I should go in or not. I stepped forward, and the gravity around me turned denser as I got closer to the portal. I stepped into the portal, and was teleported into the vision.

"Dad, are you ready yet?" A familiar voice said. A little boy came running or the steps of the house. He was around ten or eleven, and had a baseball bat in his hand. A blue cap strapped onto his head, and he had a white t-shirt with blue jeans on. He looked a lot like Danny, but I knew it had to be Patrick. He didn't notice me at the bottom of the steps, so I concurred that I was just a viewer. "I'm coming, just give me a second!" A familiar voice said from the kitchen. I was surprised so much that I almost fell backwards. The person Patrick called father was a lot like Brother Nicholas. The same style all around just a little younger. However, how could he be in this time plane if he was in the past as well? Could this just be a distant ancestor? "Noel dear," a women reassured my thoughts. I turned to see a young woman about five months pregnant, wobble into the room with her hands on her stretched stomach. She barely fit through the doorway, and I figured this was Danny's mother when she was pregnant with him. "Yes honey?" The man came to his wife with such care. She was out of breath for a little while, and the man rubbed her back sympathetically. "Can you run by the store and pick me up some ice cream when you come home?" She asked. "Sure dear, are you going to be lonely when we leave for Patrick's game?"

"No, my mom and sister are coming over. Its wonderful Noel, my sister's about to have her first child well I have Daniel. What do you think they're going to name it?"

"I don't know dear, but I know Daniel and their baby would be best friends!" The father suggested. He kissed his wife on the cheek, and walked outside the door with Patrick. The whole area turned black, and I heard the older version of Patrick began to speak. "That was really the last moment my father saw my mother, and what happens next is what will ameliorate your idea on what occurred. Where I'm taking you now is after my baseball game. We had just won championships, and my dad was taking me out to pizza!"

The void developed color and structures began to form. I was in the back seat of a car, and watched as Patrick talked to his dad about the game. "And did you see me when I slid into home and scored the winning point?"

"Yeah, you rocked!" Noel said with a serious and suspicious face. Something wasn't normal, and I think Noel was aware of it. He had a dazed look on his face, almost like he was trying not to pay attention to the road in front him. "Is something wrong dad?" Noel seemed to snap out of his mental confusion, and focused on his son. "Yeah, I'm okay! Ready to get some pizza?" The care jolted upwards and flipped where the nose pointed upwards. It was like being on a rollercoaster, but I knew this was not planned. The windows shattered, and the car moved back and forth. Patrick was so frightened that he cried. "Patrick, don't worry!" The car fell backwards, and all the gravity pulled towards the roof which was on the ground. "Patrick unbuckle your seatbelt, and climb through the window!"

"Dad, you're face!" I looked, and Noel's face was bloody from the broken glass that lashed his face. He didn't care however, and pressed the button to release his son. "Run!" He yelled, nearly pushing Patrick out the window. I was teleported outside the car, and I stared in awe at the sight. An army of demons marched towards the car. Patrick ran behind to car while Noel was just climbing out. "Nathan," the older Patrick stated. His body manifested next to me, and the audio was ripped from the vision. "Are you wondering why I care so much about Danny so much? It's because he reminds me so much of my father."

"You knew about this war before we even did?"

"Yes, and I'm willing to help you in every where I can. I know that you don't want us to get hurt, but we don't need special powers, or incredible Spirits to attack a being that took away so much from us."

"I see now, when you saw Danny you could feel something different. Something has changed, I could feel it."

"I think I know what's wrong, but if I tell you than all is lost."

"Patrick, whatever you know is better for us so we may better understand what's happening, and prevent it."

"It's nothing, just remember that prophecy is going to come true, whether you like it or not."

The void changed again, and I was back inside The Library. Something was different however. I was no longer in the room with the mysterious hallway that led to the chamber where memories are foretold. I was back in the center; no one was with near the area. I looked at the clock on top of the coffee table, and noticed that it was already eight. We've been traveling from Sedona to Laughlin which is a two hour drive. I decided to head back to the mortal world.

"Eva?" I asked while rising from my bed. I looked around the trailer, and noticed that the car wasn't in motion. "Nathan?" I heard a voice say from outside the trailer. The huge roll-up door opened, and Ann, Eva, and Danny was outside. Outside the sun beat down on the Earth like a laser, and the Laughlin air filled the cold room. "What's the matter with you? Let's go have some fun before we find the next host!" Danny said.

The Colorado River in Laughlin had stone picnic tables on the sand, and during high tides the water would play with your toes. It's a great area to come and visit, and if you have a jet ski or boat, than you could ride it on the river. It was the first time we got an actual break from all of this, and I have to tell you that it felt good. We ate sandwich on the table, and watched the different aquatic vehicles float on the water. Ignatius made the feelings come back, and I decided to for a walk. "May I come with you?" Eva asked me. Her big blue eyes showed that she cared, and Danny just sat in the sand. "No, this is something I need to do alone." I explained, and I began to walk on the trail above.

In my mind was a war of Spirits, and I'm surprised I wasn't insane. "You do know you can't save him forever, right?"

"Yes, but I can prevent you from hurting him." I told Ignatius. He only chuckled at my feeble attempt to sound threatening. I sighed, not only was he my father that left me when I was three, but he now is changing my feelings for my best friend. "Ignatius, can you answer me something? Did you know about that I would be a part of this war, and that we'll meet again when you left us?"

"Yes, however now isn't the time to be mourning the past. Look." I focused my attention to the picnic table. I was so unaware how long I've been walking that I reached the opposite side of the river. I stood on a wooden dock while I saw three men on jet skis riding towards the table. I couldn't hear what was going on, but one of the men jumped off his vehicle and grabbed Ann's hand. The next goon grabbed Danny's hand, and his sword fell to the sand. I looked around, but there was no fast way to get to the table in time. I noticed the river below me, and a plank of wood was floating by. I jumped on the wood, and pushed the wind to glide over the river like I was surfing. I was halfway across the river when it happened. One of the goons slapped Eva.

I instantly stopped pushing forward, and fell into the green water. Long green leaves tickled my body, and I thought for a second. All the rage, pain, madness I developed over the years had finally reached its peak, and I couldn't help myself. The water began to tidal over me, and I started rising out of the water. The circle of water around me was a light blue, but I felt it was a part of something bigger. The circle, including I, rose out of the river, and I could finally what I had become. The sphere I was in was the core of a giant water monster.

The whole river seemed to stop moving, and no one was riding jet skis or boats on the waters. My mental barriers were all broken down, and I watched with insane eyes as the group of men noticed me. "Nathan!" Eva yelled towards me. I noticed her beauty, and was captivated in the mental mindset to protect my friends at all cost. I grabbed the man that held Eva's arm, and pulled him towards the core to get a better look at him. There was the Eye of Chaos imprinted on his wet suit, and he had gray eyes; the eyes of the dead. I was so disgusted with him that I threw him towards the mountain. I just threw him; gravity decides whether or not he lives. My insanity was at its highest, and I broke the core between me and the outside world. I teleported to Danny, and kicked the minion of Chaos out of the way. He fell on top of Ann's goon, and we surrounded them quickly. With weapons all drawn, we began to interrogate the minions. "Who sent you, why are you here?" I quickly asked. My star was ready to send an exploding ball of energy towards them, but Ignatius stopped me with images of delusion. I threw my staff towards the stone table in pain, and clenched my hurting head. I had used up all my energy, even the power I use to negate the effect of Ignatius. "You're defenseless now, thus all you could do is watch as I corrupt your mind!" My brain was like play-doh, ready to be arranged and rearranged to how he wanted it. No, I couldn't let it happen anymore. I looked at Danny as he stared with concerned eyes. My hand vibrated with energy flowing through my veins like blood that's already being transmitted. A dark purple light radiated from my hand as I clenched my fist tightly. All the pain, anger, madness, it could all end right. "Dark Sidus" I yelled, and the darkness from my hand exploded and killed the men. I felt relief, but also guilt. The two were probably the only two real sources we had to get information from, but I blew it. All of our hard work down into the water again. "And it's your entire fault!" I yelled at my father. I grabbed my staff from the table, and went to the edge of the river. "You caused this to happen!" I screamed. I kicked the water with my foot, and began my tantrum. "You took our family away, and then you come back to tell me I have to die? What kind of father are you" I yelled. The pain had finally built up so much in my body that I had to release it somehow. "Well no MORE!" I yelled, and a column of light resonated from my body and touched the heavens. Tears like fire rolled down my cheeks, and they stung like little electrical sparks. My whole body was numb, and I couldn't feel anymore. The mentally insanity I was in cut off all my nerves, and I screamed. All my shields were broken, and the glass container that held my heart was shattered; however my heart remained full. The light died down, and I fell on my knees onto the water. A whirlwind of emotions mixed inside of me, and at first I didn't know who I was. Then I remembered. My name is Nathan Rodriguez, I'm a fourteen year old kid who came from Ramona Middle School in La Verne, California, and I am a part of The New Twelve Order.

"Nathan, are you okay?" Danny asked as we walked the stone path together. The sun fell to the west, and the night sky rose. The late afternoon air was warm, and extremely humid. It did feel nice however that I got out of my wet clothes. My head was pounding, and I felt clear. I don't expect this to be a good example, but I felt as if a giant scab was peeled off from my life, and new skin radiated from me. "Yes, I'm okay now." I admitted. He grinned, and kept walking forward while I stopped. I don't know what compelled me to, but I had to ask. "Danny," I said, getting his attention that I no longer walked with him. "What's on your hand that replaced your star?" I asked, trying to see what was on his hand. He looked up, but was still facing the other way. "Nathan," he said with grief. Time slowed as Danny faced me and showed what was on his hand. An eye of evil, darkness, and lies glared at me. It was the Eye of Chaos.

I fell back in shock as prophecy unfolded itself before me like a rug. Danny was the Betrayer, and Patrick probably already knew. So did Ignatius, that's the reason why he placed that horrible curse on me. To never injure Danny. He stared at me with scared eyes, but I didn't know what to do. I remember Lucifilus saying that this spell may be able to be broken; however, the other Spirits disagreed with the idea. I could see he was afraid, but he sold his heart to Chaos. A low wind blew across the path, and there was silence between us. Birds chirped however, and nature went on like nothing happened. The World is so unaware of what's to come, and they think this is the perfect time plane. It's far from it. "Danny, why?"

"Because I want my life back! With this new power that Chaos will grant could take me back to my old life! I could save my father!"

"Danny, all this is happening for a reason! You have to show that you're stronger than Chaos!"

"You only tell a lie that is what Chaos told me. The Twelve is weak, and you know it Nathan. Why don't you join us, that way we have a greater chance to take over this planet, and live in righteousness?"

"No, this is one thing you say that I would have to deny. Danny, you were like my brother. However, our friendship has gone back, and I don't even know you anymore. When you saw them, the cuts, you were worried. You probably didn't know what they were for, but you cared. You didn't let it go unaware, and you helped me through that dark time. Danny, don't slip up; not like this." I begged, but I could tell it was just a feeble attempt to save him. His body arched up, and he got his diamond sword out of his Eye of Chaos. "Lucifilus, what are I do?" I whispered while I stared at the insane Danny. "Honestly, I have no idea at this point. It seems there is no hope to save him."

"No hope to save him? So you mean his soul is automatically gone with Chaos? No, I refuse to believe that's true!"

"Nathan, be reasonable! You can't let him get into your head; you need to find a way to block that curse, and be able to defeat him quickly."

"You know," Danny began to say as he started to walk towards me. I got my staff out, and got ready for anything he could bring towards me. "With this new found power, I could destroy The Twelve! Breaking the cycle instantly!" He stated with insanity in his eyes. "No," a voice said from behind me. My eyes widened when I turned around to see who it was, yet I kind of had a clue. "Danny, you're not going to hurt anyone of this world." Patrick said while coming out of the darkness. Danny looked at him with crazy eyes, but Patrick kept a cool head as his brother was being slowly corrupted. "What are you doing here you piece of trash?"

"To stop what you're doing. This world doesn't need another villain Danny, especially you. You were always the good one of the family. Straight A's, excellent athlete, amazing social experience; sure I was like that too at that age, but now you're giving it all up so you could live in the past, and forget about the present age as we still live in it? It seems almost selfish of you."

"You could have saved him though! Chaos killed our father, yet you failed to save him! Why didn't you help? Why didn't you show compassion while he was lying on the floor with blood spilling onto the pavement?"

"Because he told me this wasn't my fight, and that my time wasn't yet. Danny, this is me telling you that your time isn't yet." Patrick tried to persuade, but the chaotic Danny only disagreed. "No, The Twelve also corrupted your mind with the thought that this world couldn't be perfect? Watch as I burn this world slowly to the ground!" Chaos was in his voice now, and I watched in terror as he sprinted towards Patrick who was in front of me now. Danny's diamond blade stabbed straight through Patrick's body, and I saw the blood splatter onto the floor. I watched in terror as the diamond blade was quickly retracted from the body, and Patrick flopped onto the floor. A river of blood touched my shoe, and I watched helplessly as Danny bent over to see his dead brother. Tears rolled down my eyes as the heartless monster just stood there. "ARE YOU SICK?" I yelled. Ignatius was trying to take control of me, but I forced him down under me. "TAKING THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE? WHAT IF THAT WAS YOUR LITTLE BABY SISTER? WHAT IF THAT WAS YOUR MOTHER? HAD IT BEEN THAT EASY TO DO IT THAN?"

"You don't know what you're talking about. You never lived the life I have lived."

"Yet you never lived my life! You don't know what it feels like for your father to just leave you, and then come back wanting to destroy you and the people you love. You never felt helpless, and abandon to where you have to feel the need of a knife to keep comfort in this sick society we live in. YOU NEVER LIVED MY LIFE TO FEEL ANYTHING! YET I'M STARTING TO THINK THAT YOU NEVER LIVED A LIFE AT ALL!" I began to scream now. I had to win, I just had to. This Chaos Danny would not defeat me, not like this. He smiled at me, and held his blade high. I didn't know what to expect from him, but I knew that it wasn't going to be an easy fight. "I don't want to kill you Danny!"

"Good, because by the end of this battle I'll have my life and you'll be the one dying!" Danny suggested while he pounced towards me. I blocked his sword with my staff, and I kicked forward. He dodged it quickly, and than lashed at me. I did a combination of side, and back-steps to dodge the blade, but the more I did this: the more it took away from my energy. I charged towards Danny, but he saw this and grabbed my shirt with the full power of his hand. He threw me towards the ground, and my face impacted the pavement. The only advantage of being on the ground was that I could hit one place he couldn't protect, his feet. I spun around on the floor, sort of like a full body spin, and tripped him onto his back. I tried to get up, but Danny grabbed my foot before I could set it on the ground. "Don't think about it!" He yelled, while dragging me towards him. I tried to kick his hand off, but his grip was unbreakable. Finally he released, and I got up quickly to run towards the shore. The moon shined brightly down on the waves, and I fell to my knees on the water. I waited for the blade to slice through me. I waited for the pain to be swept away by a cold wind going through my chest, but he did not deliver. Instead, I could feel him staring at me even though my back was turned. "Is this what you wanted Nathan? Is this really what you wanted?"

"No, but to be honest, no one knows what he or she wants in this world. Or for that matter, what this world can deliver."

"The Ancient Order transformed you. You're no longer that kid they first saw in The Library." Chaos spoke through Danny. I almost felt like crying, but an unbreakable force was holding the sadness back. Instead, what was substituted was just pain. Sad, bitter pain. I felt three feet small, almost like I was nothing compared to anyone in this planet. Over the past week Ignatius, Chaos, and now Danny all threatened to weaken me down, and make me feel trivial to this world. I try to tell myself that I'm better than all of them, but in reality I am not. "I see Chaos has changed you as well, tell me something Danny, are you truly happy with your decision?"

"Why wouldn't I be? Besides, Chaos said that I was the perfect host body compared to other people of The Twelve."

"He's selling you false information. He only said you were a perfect host body because you're weak-minded. He was probably laughing in satisfaction when you agreed for his dark plan."

"You're wrong! Chaos offered way more than any member of The Ancient Order had! And by the end of the summer, this whole planet will be ours!"

"You think he would give you the whole planet and its riches? If you show any sign of disobedience you know he'll kill you!" I suggested. Danny was officially angered with me, and I could hear fast footsteps from behind. He lunged his blade towards me, but I grabbed his hand to avoid the blade. He jerked the hand sideways, and my grip loosened. He kicked me deeper into the river, and I sat in the water well the moisture was evaporating from the humidity. "You know, Chaos not only granted me power to take over the world, but he foretold another prophecy that will come true." Danny suggested, and I winced in pain as I slowly rose from the river. Bruises spotted my whole back, and my muscles were completely worn out from the constant fighting. "Chaos could not tell prophecy, he is banished from the acts of doing so ever since Lucifilus sealed him."

"He told me that this world will fall into darkness, and he is only trying to protect it from our own self-destruction."

"Tell your master that he's wrong; that we could change the way we act for the better of this world."

"He said it is too late to change, and that it would acquire much time and effort to do so. Something humans in this age don't have."

"I'm through putting up with you! I'm done with this Daniel!" I yelled. Flames started to circle around me, even though I was still in the water. My head began to ache and I felt like vomiting, but something held it back. My hair began to whip up along with the breeze, and the sparks flew all over the place. I could see from Danny's uninterested face that I had not impressed him yet, however he forgotten what I'm capable of. The same core from before started to take shape, but instead of being made out of water, it was made out of the pure inferno I had created. I couldn't feel the heat burning my skin, but I did feel some kind of warmness. It was something I just couldn't have done before The Twelve. "Is this what you wanted? Me to become to a monster! Well here I am, a beast hidden away since I was born! And I did it without the help of your so-called master!"

"Yes, but you still fall short." Danny stated. I threw a ball of fire towards him, but he dodged it instantly. He ran straight towards the fire monster I was occupying, and jumped high into the air to where he looked me in the eye. "Ventus Ignis!" He yelled. It translated to fire wind, and did what it implied. The fire was swept from under me, and I fell into the river. Slowly my body was downing into the murky green river. I could hear a conversation from a distance beyond. "This is The Twelve!"

"What is The Twelve, who are you?" I heard a high-pitched voice. It sounded so familiar, yet very different. The darkness crowded my vision, and I looked at myself. I was young, but not so young to where I was a baby. It was like I went back in time to the beginning of summer; wait! "Hello?" I asked my reflection. He turned around surprised, and his jaw dropped. "Are you me?" The past asked. I smirked, and nodded slowly at the naïve way I presented myself in the past. "Yes, I am you from another time."

"Exactly when are you talking to me?" I didn't know whether to give my exact time, or if it was even safe to say I was from the future. Although, I didn't say future in general, I'm just guessing he has a lot more common sense. "I am talking to you from the middle of summer. Listen, so much stuff happened, more than you can imagine! The Twelve has become corrupted, and fallen into the hands of the Chaos! One member in particular…" I cringed. The soreness was seeping into this dream, and I could feel the darkness numbing my mind. There was a scream behind my past form, and I finally knew what it was my future-self didn't want me to see. Danny was screaming; blood dripping down his face while the flames burned his body. Tears of acid rolled down his eyes, and I was afraid. My reflection was about to look, but I stopped him quickly. "No! You cannot see whose screaming behind you, not yet! Nathan, this is how the stars tell the future. This is prophecy." I finally understood. When you look into the sky, you transform into a star. You learn stuff about the world, and it's secrets. When you look at a star, you're time.

Chapter 9: Las Vegas Rampage

I felt something shake me, and a distant light was drawing closer towards my eyesight. A voice that started out like a whisper began to speak. "Nathan," it stated. The shaking became far more real, and the light was almost blinding. "Nathan, wake up." I heard the voice again. It was louder than before, and my eyes finally opened to a concerned Lucifilus. I blinked two short beats, and then one long one to see if I was still dreaming or not. "Lucifilus?" I said, gravel in my voice. I looked up at the starry sky, and attempted to rise from the bed. I grunted, and gave up on the attempt. Lucifilus put his hand on my chest to signal me to rest. "You sure fought well. When I teleported you here, water almost flooded The Library. You were in pretty bad shape, it took you three whole days to finally wake."

"THREE DAYS?"

"In The Library, right now it's barely morning in the real world." Lucifilus cleared. I sighed heavily, and grasped my head in frustration. "Man, I really did screw up, didn't I?"

"In all honesty, it wasn't your fault about Danny's actions. You can't control what he decides to do, Nathan. You have to remember that prophecy will all play out according to plan."

"But how will this come out Lucifilus, and when? Everything happened so rapid, I barely had time to think."

"However, when you were talking to your past-self, the Prophecy room began to glow. All the lights were turned off, and I opened the box with your prophecy written down. It was missing, almost like a disappearing act. That's how you know prophecy is fore filled."

"I did grow an understanding how this whole prophecy things works when I talked to my past-self, and learned that when we state a prophecy, or fore fill it, we become time itself. We're able to do remarkable things, including travel through space and time to talk to our future or past-selves."

"By God you did learn something after all. However, some things remain a mystery to you." He suggested. I noticed something in the corner of my room, but I couldn't see well enough from the position I was in. "Lucifilus, who's that in the corner?" I asked. He turned and smiled. Whoever the mysterious was, he was a friend to Lucifilus and a friend of mine. "Nathan, this is the host body of Magnus. His name is Kelvin Santana; you know you should thank him for getting you out of the river when you were drowning basically." I looked at the boy who had saved me. He had dark fro-like hair, yet he was of Mexican descendent. His eyes were black as night, and his hands strong a mighty. He was wearing a red t-shirt that had lost its color partially, blue swim trunks with many pockets, and brown worn-out sandals. He was obviously older than I was, probably two, three years? He looked at me with concerning eyes, the same way Danny did. "Nice to meet you!" I said while making my voice sound cheery and welcoming. He nodded nervously, and looked at the door that was open. "Is he awake?" I heard a dainty voice say. Lucifilus turned and nodded. Eva came running through the doorway, and embraced me while kissing my face. Soreness crept in again, and I retreated even though I didn't want to. "Sorry, are you alright?"

"Yeah, just a little sore."

"Nathan, are you _okay_?" She sounded concerned. The way she said okay was odd, but I knew what she meant. "Yes, Ignatius hasn't done anything, yet." I suggested. She smiled, and kissed me.

Lucifilus cleared his throat so we would stop, and we obeyed. "Anyway, I think the next Spirit should be activated as soon as possible." He suggested. With Danny gone, The Twelve is no longer The Twelve, but more like The Eleven. "Lucifilus, with Danny away from The Twelve, how would be the complete Twelve the prophecy foretold about?"

"I don't know, but maybe the prophecy has another meaning. We'll have to wait and see what'll happen. However, I know that the next Spirit should be Aaron. He would be crucial to this mission because of his powers."

"Okay than, gather everyone up. Including the humans."

We all met in the center area of The Library, everyone. Lexi, Jessica, Ann, Kelvin, Lucifilus, Eva, Achilles, Lafrenze, Magnus, Gabriella, and I all assembled. "Where are my brothers?" Lexi's tiny voice spoke. I turned away from her so that she wouldn't see the tears starting to form in my eyes. "Lexi, your brother Patrick is…"

"No," She stated. I looked back, and saw as her little heart crumbled into pieces. "NO!" She ran towards the rooms they slept in, and I wanted to chase after her but Jessica stopped me. "I'll go get her." She said running towards the little girl. I breathed deeply in, and looked at the faces of Spirits intertwined with host bodies. "As you know, Chaos has taken over Danny. The Betrayer prophecy has been fulfilled." The whole room was quiet well I talked, and I could feel the nervousness creep over people. "But we won't give up! He may have taken our friend, but we won't let him take this world!" I said while trying to be strong. Everyone looked at me with concerned eyes, and I nodded because I knew what they were thinking. Even though a big chunk of me was torn out yesterday, I wasn't going to be weakened by Chaos. "It's time to activate the other Spirit."

The Spirit's capsule was a dark purple, and the light took shape instantly. A tall, skinny man with black hair stared down at me with disturbing eyes. "Hello." He said calmly. The man named Aaron looked around the area he was in, and than towards Lucifilus. "I take it this is your Library? Very nice if I do so myself. And I'm also guessing that the war has started again?"

"You're correct, except, times have changed." Lucifilus said. He explained to the new Spirit what is happening, and our plan to fix it. With full understanding, he began the search for a host body. Looking back, when this whole thing began I didn't know what to expect. However, now that I grow more and more into The Twelve and it's Great Prophecy, I'm beginning to wonder if this is all worth it, or how my life would be without it. I would probably starting summer school, or something productive during the summer, but really that's boring to me. "Lucifilus, when this whole ordeal is set with, and we win, what would to us?"

"Well, I don't want to tell you much, but nothing really would happen. You guys would fall down in history, and most likely never live a normal life. However, I'm working on something to make people forget about The Twelve. Although, this would require erasing our memory as well." I took account of this, and thought about living a normal life again. No more fighting, no stranger occurrences with demons, and most of all, Danny being back. "Okay, it's complete. The host I have chosen is a fifteen year old named Jonathan Montoya. He lives in Nevada, and is visiting Las Vegas, but only for a day."

"Perfect, Las Vegas is just around the corner to where we're from. We'll head there right away, however, we're going to need a driver."

"Don't worry," Kelvin said while reaching into his back pocket. "I got a license." He noted well he flipped open the wallet to show a legal license.

When Lucifilus teleported me back to the mortal world, I plopped into the river again. My clothes were soaked once more, and I was not in the best of mood. "Really? Couldn't teleport me outside the river?" I asked. Kelvin came towards me, and helped me onto my feet. We decided to walk towards the trail on the path I fought Danny on. The corpse of Patrick was somehow gone, and I noticed that there was glass on the beach. Was my fire that hot to where my fire smelt the sand into glass? Eva and Ann came running towards us with shock in their eyes. "Nathan, something has happened! It doesn't look good!"

"Who would do this?" I asked while looking into the trailer. Patrick's corpse hung by a rope tied around his neck. Danny's belongings were all packed, and taken away mysteriously. "Guys, we need to get of here now-"

"Leaving on my arrival? That's awfully rude of you Nathaniel!" I turned around and saw him. Ignatius almost made me to kill him, which was odd because of the curse. "I know we share an understanding that we're not friends, but I really hate this guy you know?" Ignatius explained. I smiled because for one time in my life we could finally agree on something. "Why are you here?" I asked, poison in my words. His smile was wicked, yet I was unafraid. Everyone got behind me, and I protected my friends from the darkness Chaos resonated. Danny was trapped inside his own body, however the person talking to me wasn't Danny but Chaos. "God have mercy on you, because you know DAMN WELL I WON'T!"

"God can't save anyone now!" A sword lunged towards me, but I jumped towards the bunk bed and climbed the ladder. It was a lot higher than I expected, but soon another swing of his blade came towards me. I jumped off and landed right behind him, but before I could even attempt to lift a finger: he kicked back at me. I landed outside the trailer, and watched helplessly as he walked towards my friends. "Leave them alone." I said weakly. I tried to lift my hand, but gravity came into play and so did pain. I watched helplessly as he grabbed Eva by the hair, and forced her against a wall. "Hello sweet heart! Did you miss me while I was out!"

"Get off!" Eva squirmed under the force of Danny, but he lifted her head from the wall and than smashed it down again. "You're nothing but an insignificant little whore! You'll never feel the love you want to!" Danny yelled with anger in his voice. He threw Eva outside as well, and she landed on top of me. I grunted in pain, and she got off quickly. "Nathan, are you okay?" She asked while trying to help me to my feet. I was almost up, but I fell down again in pain. "It's not going to work, help Kelvin!" I said while noticing Danny about to swing his blade towards Kelvin. The new host caught the blade mid-flight, and kicked Danny outside of the trailer. He reached into a pouch I didn't notice he had, and got out two balls. He threw them outside the trailer, and the whole area was surrounded with black smoke. I felt two hands pick me up, and I was plopped on top of a bed. I heard the trailer door close, and the truck began to move. The smoke finally cleared, and I looked to see what had happened. Ann and Eva looked around like me, and Kelvin was nowhere to be found. A little window in the front of the trailer opened up, and the back of Kelvin's head was on the other side. "Is everyone okay?" He asked, worried about the well being of us. I looked around, and noticed Danny wasn't anywhere. "I think so." I lied. I heard something behind the door, and I looked at Kelvin who stared into his side mirrors. "Guys! HOLD ON!" The door unlatched, and slid upwards. Danny hung onto the ledge of the trailer as the vehicle was in motion, and I noticed the insanity in his eyes. "Thought you could get rid of me? No!" He yelled, and charged towards my bed. Eva got in front of me, and began to fight her way through Danny. One punch from Danny was aimed towards her head, but she turned it slightly to the left and grabbed his hand. Her leg made contact with Danny's stomach, and she kicked him outside of the trailer. He flew in the air, and Eva activated her Dual Bow Guns and sent two light arrows towards Danny's flimsy body. For a second I saw him smiling, and then a black smoke covered his body as the arrows hit him. Eva dropped her weapon onto the floor, and the wind whipped her hair around. She was a goddess.

We closed the trailer door back into place, and I noticed the body of Patrick was missing from its hanging place. I lay on my bed with my hands on my head to process everything that just happened. "Okay, so now Danny is going to be chasing us around as we activate more and more Spirits. Fantastic!"

"He's not making this very easy for us, is he?" Kelvin stated. For just joining The Twelve, it felt like Kelvin had a pretty good idea on the situation we're facing right now. There wasn't really much questions he asked, he rarely talked at all for that matter. "No Kelvin, he's not at all."

"Well, we'll be in Las Vegas in a hour." Kelvin said continuing to drive. To think, Chaos was just using us to get to Danny so he could prove the prophecy. I looked over at Eva who hugged her knees to her chest while zoning out into nothingness. I got up from my bed and sat down next to her. "Are you okay?" She finally snapped out of her mental stress, and looked at me with sadness in her eyes. "Yes, just a little shaken up."

"What he said wasn't true, you know that right? He's only being controlled by Chaos, he doesn't mean the things he says."

"He looked at me with so much anger. His voice was so demonic, and all the sanity was whipped from his mind."

"You have to remember, it's not him! Eva, they're people that love you, excluding I. Your parents, they loved you. The Twelve, we all love you."

"I know, it's just the way he said it made me believe it was true." I embraced her while she laid her head on my shoulder. Tears began to form in my eyes, and I could feel Eva was crying as well. "Why did have to turn to this?"

"What do you mean?" I asked her while I stroke my fingers through her sunlight hair. "Why did have to get ourselves in this mess; a war that's not even ours."

"Eva, you know as well as I that this was not our doing. That all of this stuff that is happening today was foretold in the past. I do agree that we could have changed our actions to better the present, but we can't focus on the present or the past. The future Eva, that's where we focus on now."

"You're right," she stated rising from my shoulder. Her eyes had red clouds under them as she attempted to dry the tears she shed. "You're absolutely right." She agreed while kissing me soothingly on the lips. Her pink lips were moist; yet, I felt no spark like before we would kiss. The kiss was over, and looked towards her bag. "Do you think Danny would come back to us?" She asked, obviously not letting go of her past or present. I thought for a moment, but knew the answer deep inside me. "Yes, he will come back no matter what Chaos throws in our way. Eva, for you, I'll make sure we return to our lives in one piece." She smiled, and laid her head back on my chest.

The midday sun was high in the sky, but the trailer was nicely ventilated with the air condition. I look through the little window in front of the trailer to notice a giant sign in the distance. "Is that-"

"Yep, everyone, welcome to Las Vegas!" Kelvin stated while continuing to press forward on the road. It being daytime really killed the mood of being in Las Vegas, but it was something we couldn't control. Or was it? We stopped at a gas station, and went into The Library to ask Lucifilus to speed up time for us. "And why would I do that?"

"For the pure enjoyment of having Las Vegas more interesting?"

"Well, I don't know…"

"OH please Lucifilus? If you do, you get to look at all the girls in tight dresses walking the Strip." A giddy expression came from Lucifilus's face, and for once he looked excited. It was definitely something I was not used to. Time in The Library sped up, and it was exactly six in the afternoon. Everyone teleported back towards the trailer including Lucifilus, and we walked the Strip to see some of the sights Las Vegas offered. Ann was right, there was a lot of... different kind of people walking the streets half-naked. Some of them not even girls. "This place is disgusting with all this filth that walk the streets." Eva stated loudly to where some people turned their heads to give us a look. I agreed with her, no matter how much people love Las Vegas and think it's the prime of our Country, it's just an example how sick Americans are. "You can pick ANY hotel you guys want!" Lucifilus offered. He didn't realize the hole he was digging himself into until my answer came out when I looked at a high building towering over Las Vegas with high lights travelling vertical of the construction. "THAT ONE!" I said while pointing to the world famous Caesar's Palace. It was beautiful with the different kind of lights bouncing off it, and I was thought it was simply Heaven on Earth. All Lucifilus could think about however is money falling into the garbage. He looked at me in question, but I nodded with simplicity. He sighed, and we all began to walk to the giant hotel.

The inside was just as amazing as the outside. The roof was high, and curved like a dome. Meanwhile, pillars of the whitest stone were standing, not even supporting anything. "This place is pure beauty." I said while sitting on the side of the fountain that was placed in the middle of the room. Couches of red, black, and tan were on the edge of the room, and Lucifilus went to the big desk to order a room for us. "Can we have a room with three beds, and a reclining couch?" He asked the attendant. She had a blue short dress on, and her skin was pasty white. Her lips were red and rouge, and her hair was orange that complimented her green eyes. "Of course sir, may I ask whose buying the room so I may put it in our guest list?"

"Lucas, Lucas Philips."

"Excellent sir," she stated, showing her small British accent. "Your room will be on the twenty-second floor, here is your room key." The lady said while handing Lucifilus the key to our room. "Would you be paying before, or after your stay?"

"After. We don't know how long we're going to be staying here for."

"All right, and would you need help with your bags?" Lucifilus nodded, and the lady rang a bell. The bellboy came running up and picked up our bags. He directed us to the elevator, and we elevated up to the twenty-second floor. "Lucifilus, how are we supposed to find the new host body in this big city? He could be anywhere!"

"I don't know. The best idea is to rest for about a hour, and than split up all across the Strip."

"All right."

"I would be going off ahead of you guys, meanwhile, you need to rest up just in case you have to fa- I mean see another friend." Lucifilus caught himself from the bellboy. The doors opened, and we piled out of the tight elevator. A red carpet made the floor, and we were escorted to our room. When we got to the room, Lucifilus opened the door to let the bellboy in, and than decided to take his leave. "Remember, whatever happens you guys will be prepared!" He gave his last words, and then walked strictly down the hall towards the elevators.

The room was like a little apartment. It had a kitchen, a living room with the reclining couch we ordered, and two individual rooms. On the left of the door was the bathroom, and in the living room was a giant glass window that overlooked the city. A little metal balcony was out there, and you could get to it by the door on the left of the glass. I looked into the bathroom to my left, and it was fit for a king. A bath with a television was the first thing I saw, and I looked back at everyone settling into his or her new living area. "Maybe just a little time to myself would be nice." I said in my head, and crept into the bathroom.

I scrapped the cloths off of my sweaty body, and threw them wherever they landed. I started the bath while finding the controller for the television. "Let's see channel 4." I stated, flipping to the only news channel I knew. The bath warmed quickly, and steam rolled of the top of the water. I placed my foot in, and warmness filled my body like it was some kind of energy. My muscles loosened themselves, and I finally relaxed. I let out a sigh of relief, and turned the television up higher. "We have new details on the strange occurrences of children in the states California and Arizona." The news lady said while a picture of me sat right of her blond hair. "It seemed like a normal camp from the start, even the kids knew about the camp." The lady was interviewing my mother. "However, when Nathan didn't pick up his phone, and I went to go search for this 'Camp Eagle Rock' in La Verne, there was no such thing!" I grabbed my phone quickly in my pants pocket, and noticed that I had twenty-four missed calls. I dialed quickly, and paused the television with the power of Tevo. The phone answered immediately, and my mother's voice sounded weak and wary. "Nathan, is this you?"

"Yeah mom! I saw you on the news, you shouldn't go running to the police!"

"Where are you? I know this Camp Eagle Rock thing doesn't exist!"

"Actually mom, it does! The camp is actually located in Arizona."

"So you got those people to lie to me? How could you do that?"

"Mom, it's all in good reason, don't be mad." There was a long pause, and I heard my mother sigh. "All right, I'm not mad. However, if you would have told me this, I would have let you go."

"I'm sorry mom, we'll be home by tomorrow, the next day tops!"

"All right, good night." I hung up the phone, and sunk into the warm water. I heard a knock on the door, and it opened slightly. "Nathan, are you in there?" Eva's voice sounded better, and she was happier. I looked around me, and bubbles surrounded me, veiling everything below the water. "Yeah, you can come in, I'm covered." I suggested. She walked into the room holding some kind of potion, and smiled with gratitude. "Perfect! Gabriella showed me how to make this bubble potion, want to try it out?" I lifted my hand to tell her to pour it into the water, and the pink liquid spilled into the bath. It made my skin crawl, and every little scrap, bruise, or scab fell off my body, and vaporized in the liquid. "Amazing! You never cease to surprise me with your talents Eva."

"Thank you, however, some of the materials used to make this potion only exist in The Library." Eva explained. There was an awkward silence between us, and the news flashed red. "What's this?" I turned the volume up to hear the sound of sirens. It flashed an Asian woman standing in front of Laughlin. "What's going on Marian?" The people in the newsroom asked. Marian's voice was trembling, and she almost felt like crying. "Rebecca, we found a dead body of a teenage boy here!" My heart stopped as they looked at the covered body lying on the floor. "Police have not found the body, and we're the first ones to know about it while driving to Las Vegas. The body appears to be male, and suffer stab wounds entering from the front, and exiting the back on the lower stomach. It seems to be a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy in high school, more details will come when police arrive." She stated. The camera didn't move though, and I notice something sliced on Patrick's wrist as it hung out of the covering. "We're coming," I read the black ink on his arm. I looked at Eva, but she was already heading towards the door. I guess my relaxation was over.

I charged towards the door with my hair still wet, and looked at everyone with concerned eyes. They were ready however, and so was I. I already got into the mental mind-set that I wasn't going to hold back on Danny. That would be a mistake too crucial to make. "We don't know where, or how Danny and us are going to meet, but I just know it's going to be soon." I told my team, prepping them for whatever it takes to defeat Danny. It only had been a couple of hours since we last seen Danny, but we don't know where Danny has stayed. He may have been staying in another dimension that slows time! I opened the door suddenly to get out of the room, but I stopped when I heard the sound of a gun cocking. "Eva, get back!" I yelled while grabbing her hand that was in front of me. I dragged her back into the room, and the gun fired outside. The door burst open, and Danny, including two large men with guns, stormed into the room. I jumped back while sending a star towards Danny, but he knocked it back with his diamond blade. The star flew towards the window, and the glass shattered all around the room. "Astral Barrier!" I yelled while grabbing everyone close to me so that the glass wouldn't touch him or her. Eva got her Dual Bow Guns, and began firing arrows of light towards the two men. They disappeared when the arrows made contact, and it was just us. Eva was ready to send another arrow towards Danny to end it, but I put my hand up to stop her. "Eva, take everyone and climb down the balcony to the floor. I will meet you guys when this thing is over."

"But Nathan,"

"Go now!" I yelled while I turned towards her. Tears started to form in her eyes, but my cold heart didn't care. She nodded, and climbed towards the balcony. I faced Danny again with his uninterested eyes. "One day they will see the truth as well, and join me."

"You wish!"

"I know." He stated, and than ran towards me with his blade held to slice at me. I jumped onto the table in back of me, and he swung his blade in the wood. The sword was such, and I kicked Danny in the face hard enough to send him flying towards the couch. He got up with pure madness, and ran towards me. He grabbed my neck tightly, and pulled me off the kitchen table and onto the patio. The air escaped me, but he didn't care. "Look now, I'm finally on top of you."

"Le-let go." I pleaded well I coughed out oxygen.

"You know, if I put my knee on your lungs you'll be dead in less than thirty, oh, twenty seconds?"

"Danny, I know you don't want to do this." I coughed out. Around his eyes were dark circles, and his actual eye was red from tears most likely. I reached up towards his face with my shaking hands, and gripped onto his face. My grip wasn't hard, but more like a plea. Pleading was the last thing I wanted to do to Danny, but I had no choice. "Let go, please." There was a shock expression on Danny's face, and I felt his grip unravel. We both got up from the ground, and he looked at me with eyes full of tears. "I'm sorry," he stated, and then quickly rose his sword towards my neck. "That I have to kill you!"

"DUCK!" A voice said while running into the room. A blur kicked Danny outside the window, and he was almost flying. "Send a star!" Lucifilus said in my mind. I got up, and threw an exploding star towards Danny. He looked at me with sad eyes before being exploded from the stars, and I looked at the person who had kicked him outside the window. A boy with black-brownish hair stared at me with red eyes. A seven-pointed star was on his forehead, but his hair covered it. He had a white t-shirt on, and blue swim trunks including leather sandals. He huffed a little, but still looked calm. "Hello!" He excitedly said. I was a little confused on how to respond to someone who just saved my life, so I figured to come up with the stupidest response I could think of. "Uhh, hi?"

"Good thing I was here, or else you would have been killed by that kid. Nathan right? I'm Jonathan; it's a pleasure to meet the host body of Lucifilus. I'm the host body of Aaron."

Chapter 10: Eye of the Chaos Storm

Things were really awkward between Jonathan and I, but I know it wasn't his fault. Sure he completely kicked Danny out the window, and made me fire an exploding star after him, but after all it was nice a quiet for a while. "Is it me, or are you not a talker?" He asked while looking at the Las Vegas scenery. I almost felt like being rude and saying: 'well, how can I be a talker after you completely ruined my chance of getting my best friend back,' but rudeness wasn't in my vocabulary. I just let out a sigh, and heard the door knock from the other side of the room. Or at least what was left of the door. Eva, Ann, and Kelvin all came into he wrecked room, and stared at me with worried eyes. "Are you okay?" Kelvin said while looking at the damage that was done. "It's going to take a lot more than room service to get this all cleaned up." Ann remarked. I smiled at her comment, and walked around the wreck. "We weren't even here for two hours and we already have this place destroyed and conquered."

"I don't think Chaos wants us to activate anymore Spirits," I answered, monotone. "If we do than it would only hurt Danny."

"What are you talking about?"

"Every time we activate a Spirit don't you guys feel that spark? The jolt you get when it enters the room?" Everyone looked at each other to nod their heads with one another. "That's the pain he's probably feeling right now! He doesn't want to stay with Chaos you guys."

"What can we do? He unwillingly gave his life to him, and swore to Chaos's 'higher power'."

"We have to end this as soon as possible, however," I looked towards the broken window where Danny was pushed. The stars seemed to be dancing, but I felt no dizziness or any sign of prophecy. "How do we end this?" I asked, looking back on everyone. They all were scared for what was to come with the exception of Jonathan who had no idea on what happened.

We decided to drive back to California during the night, and the people who didn't live there would live in The Library until the time was right. Inside the trailer, Eva, Ann, Jessica, Lexi, Kelvin and I were sitting on the beds, discussing the plan for The Twelve during the summer. "While Jonathan is getting trained, we should head to California and 'check-in' with the people that care the most."

"What are we going to do well we're there, just live a normal life?" Kelvin asked.

"Well, it's going to be hard to live at any extent of normal. However, we have to try with all out power to do so." I responded. This wasn't going to be easy to go back on our old routine, and I knew it would be an extremely steep hill to climb. I looked outside the little window in front of the trailer, and noticed the back of Lucifilus's head. He was driving us towards the little town of San Dimas, and we waited to finally be home. The flat plains ended, and the rocky hills began. Every sign got me more excited as the miles became fewer. We were soon in Hollywood, about a hour away from home. I grew anxious, but the face of my friends looked almost sad. "Why are you all depressed?"

"Well, we really don't want to leave. We've grown so close this week, or month if you're counting The Library time, and it's all ending so abruptly." Jessica admitted. There was insecurity in her voice, almost like she was crying for us to be together. I looked over at Lexi, Danny and Patrick's little sister, and tears rolled down her face. She had obviously been through a lot, and going home was going to be hell for her. "Lexi, you're able to stay at The Library if you want."

"I don't know, wouldn't mommy be mad at me?"

"Actually Lexi, I think it would be better if you stay in The Library. Just to give your mommy a little time to relax?" Eva said with a fake, cheery voice. The smile one her face was a total lie, but I did the same thing to play with the little girl's mine. Lexi's frown instantly turned to a smile, and her tears had dried on her face. "More fun time with Uncle Lucifilus!" She expressed her happiness in the most appropriate way. I chuckled at her innocence, but then focused on other matters we overlooked. How WERE we going to Danny's mother about both her sons being gone?

"Mrs. Barnes?" I said to the concentrating lady. She was working on a painting that was veiled by her body. She wiped the sweat from her brow to turn around and face us with the picture still hidden away. Her face had that daring look on it, and I was almost scared that she already knew. "Save your breath Nathaniel!"

"You do? Wait, what?"

"The look on both of your faces when you walked in was absolutely priceless! That sign of being guilty, absolutely the funniest thing I've seen in a while." She said with glee in her eyes. I backed in fear as she revealed what she was painting behind her back. A seven-pointed star in a circle glowed a dark green on the canvas, and her body began to transform. Her eyes turned completely red, and razor sharp fangs sprouted from her teeth. "What's happening?" Eva asked while the lady turned into a giant serpent. I cringed a little when I remembered seeing the star last. It was on my own father! "So, I guess you were a part of the Shadow 21 then?"

"Even before you were a part of this silly Twelve!" She admitted. I have to say, when your friend's mother turns into a snake and threatens your life, it's the last thing you expect. The seven-pointed star in a circle was bright on here forehead. "And I guess you knew what Danny was destined for, so you sent him with us for the sake of the Shadow 21 in owning this world."

"The sheer fact of just saying the word 'yes' was just enjoyable, and then we watched as your mind slowly goes corrupt with the curse Ignatius gave you was pure bliss for us!"

"Then why'd you make him kill you own flesh and blood?"

"I do regret Patrick ever going, but I personally feared that they would get him as well."

"Them?"

"Them meaning us, but remember Nathan, if Patrick would still be living and joined the Shadow 21, all prophecy would be destroyed.

"How so?"

"That's another story for a different day, but now," She lunged her head towards me, but I stepped out of her way. "You both will die!" She hissed at Eva, and stuck out her poison filled tongue. Eva ran around the snake, and Danny's reptilian mother's head rammed into the drywall, and she was stuck for a quick moment. White powder flew towards us as her scaly head flung towards Eva and I. "Star crash!" I yelled while hitting the snake-woman with my energy filled staff. Her head jolted backwards, and a scream—half woman, half snake—shout out of her mouth. She instantly charged towards Eva, but she shot the snake with light arrows. The arrows glowed in the snake's skin, and blood like cream rushed down her head. "Nathan," Eva said to get my attention. The air collapsing on the dying snake was making wind, and Eva's hair was covering her eyes. "You have to end her!" She yelled over the air. I looked at the snake with the blood splattering on the floor, and held my staff out. "Star," I began to say, but paused. I could feel something wrong, but I didn't know what it was. It wasn't anything like Ignatius's curse, but it restricted me the same way. "Nathan, please don't kill my mother." A voice spoke while a light suddenly blinded me.

The light finally decreased itself, and I was placed in a forest. A small body of water was in front of me, and the sand was warm on my uncovered feet. My clothes were tattered, and completely different compared to what I was wearing before. They were covered in clay like mud, and the color disappeared from the cotton. My feet felt like they were sanded down, and my face was burned by the two suns in the sky. Above me was not a reflection of the water below, no. Instead, it was a vast multi-colored sea of purples, blues, yellows, reds; every color you could think of was there. The leaves brushed up against my skin as I walked towards the body of water. I wouldn't call it a lake, or a puddle, but just a little body of water peaceful enough to sit on the shore and watch time go by. I looked into the water, but backed away at the sight of my reflection. "This is literally the only way I could communicate with you, please." Patrick's voice came from the water. I gave a sigh of relief, and crawled back towards the water. I noticed his reflection, and he looked a lot better then he was before. "What is this place?"

"This is my own personal heaven!"

"You mean that this is heaven?"

"Kind of, you're in my dead mind right now as I'm gone. This is not what heaven looks like, trust me."

"Okay, my mind is officially blown but I'll try to cope. Now, why do you want me here."

"I stopped time in the room you were in to be able to talk to you about why I can't let you kill my mother."

"Yeah, why won't you let me? You heard all the horrible things she said about you."

"When I died, I learned things about my family that left me wondering. Did I know everything about my family?"

"So you're saying that there's more stuff about your history that you found out which relates to The Twelve."

"Yes, and I learned that if you kill my mother's true form, then things would be unbalanced."

"True form? What do you mean?"

"Remember your battle with your father? He had some sort of demon inside of him controlling his body like he was a host. That's the same thing that happened with my mother! You could kill her body to make the demon flee, and still fight it in the future."

"How did it get here in the first place?"

"I don't know, but all I ask is if you don't kill the imp." The reflection faded, and the forest was sucked into a black void. There was silence at first, and a light shimmered in the distance. I knew what was coming, and got my staff out. "Bash!" I yelled while the light blinded me. I heard a metallic scram, and the giant serpent exploded into thousands of little pieces. What took the place of the snake was Mrs. Barnes lying on the floor obviously dead. Blood trickled from her head, and Eva walked towards me with a stunned expression. Our breathing was loud, and we were both aware of it. I walked towards the body and inspected it. As Patrick said, something was growing inside of Danny's mother, but I couldn't completely see it. It was emitting an aura that was like no other, and I finally understood why he didn't want me to kill it. "Come on Eva, we have to go now…"

The water was sprinkling warmness on my body, and the dirt that accumulated on my skin went down the drain. It felt good to be clean again, but my soul felt like mud still. I felt stuck in a huge mess and no matter how much I struggle: I could not break free. That was something I hated about myself; the constant self-pity I don't deserve. "You're being too hard on yourself! You must remember that none of this is your fault." Lucifilus stated. I was no longer in the shower, but inside of a black, lightless void. It was filled with nothing but emptiness; a dreaded void that only wanted to drag me deeper in the blackness. "Lucifilus, is that you?" I asked while looking at a distant light. It shined faintly, but grew as time passed. I knew the answer was yes, but something made me second-guess myself. "Hello Nathaniel," I heard a voice say from the light. It was that deceptive voice I've heard oh so many times. "Chaos, why are you here? Do you not know that my mind has blocked every fiber of your being?"

"Maybe my soul has been blocked, but," The light transformed into Danny, and he stepped towards me while his back was arched. "Not THIS soul." I looked at his eyes, red and dark. I didn't know exactly what he was planning on doing here, but I knew it wasn't going to be good. I clenched my fist as he began to circle my frightened body. "You lied," I began to yell at the Chaos infected Danny. "You're the real betrayer! Why did you do it?"

"Oh Nathan, he can't hear your attempts anymore because his mind is mine."

"Chaos. You're sick! You created this fantasy, and make people believe in it. You offer power when you barely have enough for yourself. He may have sold his heart and body to you, but his spirit lives on."

"Funny how you tell yourself this false belief that he's still pure in heart, but you really have no idea who or what he has become. You're lying to yourself."

"I know that we will defeat you, but you lie to yourself about being strong! Watch us Chaos, you'll see." Danny smiled, and looked at me with his eyes. No, not the eyes of Chaos, but the actual eyes of Danny. They were pleading for help, and I desperately tried to run towards him. "Don't you dare touch me!" Danny's voice morphed with Chaos's, and he kicked me to the floor of the void, which was just a black invisible solid object. He was beginning to step over me, but I quickly tripped him. "Star bash!" I yelled while sending a star towards him. He noticed it quickly, and got up to avoid the explosion. The blast knocked him forward, and I had time to think before he could find me in the smoke the star left behind. "Lucifilus, what do I do?"

"I don't know, but I feel something strange about this fight; something we're not looking into detail on."

"Danny's trying to break the spell, however, Chaos's spell is too powerful on him to where it'll only hurt him and make his power weaker."

"You have to find a way to defeat him, but not to use all his energy in the process."

"I can easily do that, but,"

"SURPRISE!" Danny yelled while jumping out of the smoke with his blade held high above his head about ready to chop it off. I stepped to the left quickly, and the blade barely missed me. He knew already that the blade would miss me, so he flung it towards my right side, but I deflected it with my staff. A tiny light flashed between our weapons, and we were both knocked backwards. "Star Dash!" I yelled while running with amazing speed towards Danny. He knew my strategy was to charge and jump in the air, so I had to think outside the box to where he wouldn't expect what I was planning. He planted his feet shoulder width apart, and I slid under him. "Star," I yelled while halfway under him. I swiftly stopped sliding, and jumped backwards while facing him. "Crash!" I said. The yellow ball of light flew out of my staff, and stormed towards Danny. His eyes narrowed themselves, and he had an evil grin on his face. He threw his sword to the ground, and grabbed the ball of light with his bare hands. As he grasped onto the star, I felt like he was holding my life in his hands. "Lucifilus," I struggled to say while his tight began to tense up. "What's happening?"

"No, he finally found your weak spot! You're connected with your attacks, that's your source of power personally."

"Now as I squeeze away your life, you would die, and I'LL BE THE ONE WHO DESTROYS THIS WORLD!" Danny interrupted. My teeth clenched as the processed Danny was tightly grasping the tiny ball of energy. It felt as if he was grabbing my head, but instead it was a ball of light that I generated which somehow is apart of my life. Tears cascaded down my face, and I tried to move but found it impossible. "Danny, please stop." I pleaded. My eyes began to vibrate, and my body felt like it was imploding. "No matter how much you struggle Nathan, I would be one step ahead of you."

"Danny, you don't need to do this! You can mold your own future without the help of Chaos; all you have to do is say so!"

"No, I want this! Don't you see, Nathan? This world, its imperfection is what's killing itself. If there was a ruler to take control of it, then no more shall the innocence weep because of society's actions."

"We can't fix what's been broken already, but we could rebuild and start over; start anew."

"No! I will not let you poison his mind with this deception!" Chaos's voice came out of the darkness. Danny's eyes were widened, and his grip on the ball un-tightened. He threw it to his left, and it exploded in the air. "Nathan?" Danny's normal voice spoke from his own body for once. A bitter air was around us, and I fell to my knees in pain. "Danny…"

"NO! YOU WON'T BREAK HIM!" Chaos said while Danny clenched his head in pain. His veins began to pop out of his head, and his pupils were shrunken down to tiny dots in his eyes. "Nathan, Daniel has finally gone insane! You must finish this quickly!" Lucifilus ordered. I threw a star, but Danny grabbed it again. He looked at me with insane eyes, and smiled. "You will never kill me!" He said. Danny clenched the star with his hands, and it became bigger. The wind in the nothingness began to swirl all around him, and he smiled evilly. "Any last words before I finally end this pathetic excuse for a fight?"

"Danny, you don't want to do this! Think of the past, think of the future; THINK OF LEXI AND PATRICK!"

"I will forget about the past so I may rewrite the future for my own gain! Face it Nathan, this world is going to be done with!"

"Before this began you wanted to destroy Chaos, and now you gave it up all for power."

"I swear you sound like a broken record, and I'm going to repeat what I've been saying from the beginning! Chaos offered way more then The Twelve could ever manage! He granted my happiness, he wants me to rule over the planet with him, but The Twelve doesn't want to rule the planet! They want to stop our plan in making this world perfect!"

"Nothing in life is going to be ever perfect, you must accept that! You also must accept that I won't let you take over this planet with Chaos! You'll always be a member of The Twelve, you'll always be Achilles's host, and you'll always be my best friend!"

"Our friendship means nothing to me anymore, and Achilles will fall with the rest of you!" He yelled while finally releasing the energy. The ball of light transformed into a beam, and it was aiming towards me at an incredible speed. "STAR CRASH!" I yelled while sending a beam of light towards the other laser. The two beams met in the middle, and exploded with a ball of colliding energy in the center. The push from Danny's side of the energy was immensely powerful, and I stepped back in agony. The sound that was coming from the beams were like waves pulsating once every second. "Danny! Stop this madness at once!"

"Never Nathan. I'm through playing these silly games with you! It's time you all die, and that's today!" A tear fluttered down my cheek, and I squeezed my staff tighter. "NO MORE!" I yelled, and finally released the beam causing a huge explosion in the process. Smoke started to fill up the void, and I ran towards where I thought Danny was. I could hear an evil chuckling, but he was nowhere to be found in the dust. "Danny?" I called feeling almost worried for him. Silence responded back, and I focused my eyesight on a figure in the distance. "That was a nice firework show," the figure said while the clouds finally dispersed into thin air. "But now it's time for this fight to be over with."

"Danny, you don't need to do this."

"Oh, but I want to. All this time I've been one step shorter then you, but that's all going to change. When I'm done with you, I'm going to be the one calling the shots! I'm going to be the one to rule this world better then any human attempted."

"No you're not! Chaos is just using you until that day finally comes where he throws you away like a used cloth! He doesn't care about your feelings, your emotions, your well being; no, all he cares about is that his plans are fulfilled to where he is the only ruler and no one would stand against him. Are you blind? Do you not see that you're merely a puppet on a string? Are you unaware that you're killing innocent lives like Patrick, your own brother? Hurting your little sister's feelings to where she just wants to give up? Are you that cold-hearted?"

"SHUT UP! I know what I'm doing! I don't need you, Achilles, Lucifilus, NO ONE TO TELL ME WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT OR WRONG! I will rule this world alongside Chaos, and then we'll be seeing whose laughing last! We'll see whose bowing down to each other as we stand on top of the White House at the end of summer! That's when this poor excuse of a planet will end, that's when a new era will begin! The end of the summer would end them all whether you like it or not!" Danny screamed. His voice was echoing throughout the whole void, and I stepped back in fear. Rage and anger was in his eyes as he walked towards me, but I continued to step farther back. "Danny, I thought you were my friend."

"Well you thought wrong."

"I though you were strong enough."

"I am strong enough; strong enough to take you down."

"No you're not, you let all your mental barriers come down, and let the enemy enter."

"I know what I'm talking about Nathan, however, if you really care that much, why don't you join us?"

"What?"

"Think Nathan, with only Chaos and I to fight the whole Twelve, our chances of winning are slim. However, if we had you then our plans would surely come true!"

"You have to be joking right?"

"Don't do it Nathan! Even though I want you to fail so bad, this isn't the proper way to end." Ignatius spoke inside of my head. His body manifested in front of me, and looked at me with the serious eyes a father had with his son. "I know you probably despise me to the highest peak, but this isn't for you. They just want to use you Nathaniel, don't let them get inside your head." Right now what was in my head was how the hell did I get in this mess the first place? At this point, I was having trouble wondering if my father was going to kill me or not. He seemed rather docile enough at this point, so I trusted in him for the amount of time it took to get out of here. "Lucifilus, can you open up a gate fast enough?"

"Fast enough? No, but I would have one as soon as I can!" He stated. Danny looked at me with malicious eyes, and I could feel the tension between us. "I'm not letting you go anywhere, not until you join us!" He yelled while running towards me with his blade held high. I didn't have enough time to react, so I closed my eyes and waited for the blade to come slicing through me. To my surprise there was a moment of silence, and I opened my eyes to see my father holding Danny's blade by the fuller—the part of the middle of the actual blade. Blood was coming down his hand, but he didn't care. "Ignatius!" I yelled, but he looked at me with insane eyes. "I don't care what they say, you need to stay strong Nathan." My father stated. For once he actually cared about me, after all he done to try to kill me he actually cares. Ignatius then turned back at Danny, and threw the blade towards his left. He raised his right hand and a darkened ball of energy formed in his palm. Danny backed away as Ignatius pressed forward. "Nathan, the portal is open!"

"But my father and Danny!"

"They'll be alright, right now we have to focus on getting you back home." The portal behind me rotated, and I stared back at my father threatening Danny with a ball of light. I stepped backwards, and the warmness splattered on my body again. The blackness of the void went down the drain like blood, and tears ran across my face as I remembered what had happened.

"Come on, we need to go now!" I yelled at the group of kids inside of my house. The flood started to pour itself into my house, and my mother's dead corpse floated on top of the water. Winds that went 100 miles per hour were sweeping towards us, and I fell in the cold, wet concrete floor. Blood, red marks, and bruises was scattered all around my body, and I looked up at Eva who had a huge slash mark where a piece of metal cut her. The lightning jolted in the sky traveling though each storm clouds. "Come on!" Kelvin yelled while picking me up the wet sidewalk. It was finally the end of the summer, and a huge storm system we predicted was finally reaching its peak. The extreme conditions were causing terror through Southern California, and people were going insane. Darkness was over us, and we scrambled inside a car Lucifilus rented. "We need to get to the airport quickly!" He yelled while attempting to drive. Even I could tell that it would be impossible to travel anywhere, and the storm hadn't reached L.A.X yet. In order to get to our destination without delay, we had to move quickly. "This won't work Lucifilus, we have to find another way!"

"There is no other way! Just hang on!" Lucifilus commanded.

"Lucifilus, the road is blocked!"

"What are you going to about it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You could help us out you know!"

"HOW?"

"You're a freaking teenager with incredible powers, how could you not help?" I couldn't take it anymore, and opened the window I climbed through it, and got on the roof of the car. The flood blocked the highway, and I lifted my hands with my palm facing down. The water started to turn, and was forcibly moved to the side. "Keep it up Nathan!" Lucifilus cheered.

Chapter 11: Blood in the Streets

"Five tickets to New York City please!" Lucifilus asked the usher. Meanwhile, Jonathan manipulated her mind to give us the pass to go on the plane. We had got the last time available on the plane, and I climb onto my seat and tried to enjoy probably the last moment of my life. The plane took off, and we headed towards New York.

Over the past weeks, everything in my life was starting to swerve out of control. We tried summoning another Spirit to help us, but in the mid-activation: Lucifilus sealed away the Spirit because he said there wasn't enough time. A storm started to form in the clouds, and a giant earthquake occurred in New York City. It knocked down buildings, and left almost the entire population of the city to be homeless. Lucifilus warned us that a great darkness radiated from the city, and we would be fighting for all of humanity during this time. Every prophecy spoken from the past was finally coming true, and there was only one more philosophical storm left to be revealed. The moment we found out who's going to protect or destroy this world. I looked at all the faces of my friends that I have made. Kelvin, Eva, Ann and Jonathan were ready. Danny was the betrayer; I would become the hero of this world. This makes sense, this all real. "Nathan? Are you okay?"

"Yes, just thinking. What about you?"

"Kind of nervous." Eva's voice had nervousness in it, and she had tears pushing their way out of her eyes. She finally broke down, and her head flung towards my chest. Her sobs were short and loud. "Eva, there's no need to worry, we could stop this."

"No Nathan, I'm not crying because I'm thinking of what would happen if we lose, I'm crying because I'm thinking of what'll happen if we win? Would Danny be… dead?" I thought for a moment as she spoke. Would he die? Would I have to be the one to take away his life? Would I have his blood on my hands? "Eva, don't think about things like that! When the time comes we'll find out what destiny wants for us, but for now we have to remain strong!" I stated. There was silence on the plane, and I could see dark clouds begin to engulf the plane. I could see the lightning surge through the clouds behind us, and I got prepared for anything! I thought of how I remembered seeing New York City on the news that one day, how horrible and destroyed it looked. Tall buildings toppled over by the great earthquake. People were on the streets crying with huge bloodstains on their clothing. I remember seeing it, so horrible. I didn't want Danny or Chaos to win this, but I knew that one side had to lose. Lightning hit the plane causing the electricity to go out, and us to be propelled downwards towards the ground. The whole plane was awake and screaming at the falling vehicle. The pilots quickly grabbed knobs that did something to somehow get the plane back in the air at cruising altitude. "We're sorry for that folks, minor technicalities with the weather. We'll be reaching New York City in less then thirty minutes.

The landing was rough, and the plane abruptly stopped in the middle of the runway. "Are you okay?" I asked Eva who had a worried expression on her face. She looked up at me to belie me with a smile. The storm that was in California had finally reached New York City, and I watched as the dark clouds stared at me. "I'm coming Chaos, just watch me." I whispered to myself. The doors slid open, and my jaw dropped when I saw the destruction duplicated out in front of. It was way worse then what it was on the television, and tears began to roll down my eyes. "Danny, Chaos, what have you done?" I could hear Eva say under her breath. The sun was blackened, and the sky had dark red clouds towards the southwest way of the planet. On the streets led dead bodies, and the scene was horrible to where no human person should witness it. "Do you now see Nathan? Chaos only wants to destroy this world, he doesn't wish to protect it and make it 'perfect', no. He only wishes it would fall and have magma rise from its core onto the surface. This is his true deed." I clenched my fist as I wiped the tears from my eyes. I stood tall though, and didn't let them get into my head even though they were trying to break my barriers. I looked down, and noticed a doll under my foot. A simple doll, probably from a parent, but it spoke to me almost. "Nathan, help them." It said with a soft voice. I looked around to see if I had finally lost it. I looked back at the doll, and dropped in the ground after close consideration.

The rebuilding of the city was already in procedure, and only the richest people could get in Town Square. "I don't care what your business in, no money: no entrance." The solider stated in front of the tollbooth. I gave him a sour look, and turned around towards a car with a dead body in it. "Kelvin, I have an idea." I told him, and then pointed to the car. He automatically picked up where I was going with, and we walked towards the truck. Of course it was a Ford Tundra, and the dead body slid out the doorway when we opened the door. I got in the back while summoning my staff into my hand, and Kelvin waited for me to get ready. "Now!" I yelled, and the car started to ram its way towards the blockade. "ASTRAL BARRIER!" I yelled while the soldiers began to fire at the car. A purple shield protected the entire vehicle, and we broke through the gate. Eva, Ann, and Jonathan all jumped into the back of the car, and we rode away into the ruined city.

We rode into the giant plaza in the heart of New York City, and stopped the car as we took in the devastation. The giant mechanical signs that were on every building had crumbled onto the ground, making walking or driving nearly impossible. I looked around, and noticed a hand beneath a pile of huge stones. Blood coming from underneath, and I touched the hand to see how long it was there. Cold, bitter coldness. "Danny, if I could only tell you how much pain you caused. If you could only think how many people have suffered because of you!"

"Why don't you show me?" A voice said from behind me. My eyes widened, and I looked behind to see Danny with a dark robe on. My teeth were clenched to a point where they hurt but I couldn't help the rage he made me feel. "You!" I yelled while throwing a star almost instantly. He teleported to my left, and kicked me to the floor. I slid into a rock, and my back was all scratched up. My head hit the stone, and blood began to blind me. "Can't you see the beauty in this? We're restarting this world one major city at a time!" Danny tried to explain the "bright" side of the destruction. There was no beauty in this, only pure madness. "Why?"

"Because I can!"

"Do you even care about the people you've killed?"

"Why care about something so obsolete? Unnecessary to our big plan, the whole prophesy."

"You mean your master's false-belief?"

"To you, yes; however, to I, this is all just a small portion of what this world will look like once we're done with it. Oh, what a beautiful vision I could see in the near future!"

"You're not Danny…"

"What?"

"You're not Danny… Transformatdaemon." I revealed the demon behind the face of Danny. He smiled, but didn't change back. "You clever dog, quite literally to." My heart began to pump faster, and I looked at Chaos's minion with insanity. "How dare you try to copy him, how dare you put words in his mouth! I rue the day you were ever created, I loath the very ground you walk on, THIS will be your last moment on this earth!" I cursed. I raised my staff in the air, and a big ball of energy formed at the tip of the ruby. I catapulted it towards the demon, but he dodged it almost instantly. He charged towards me, but I teleported quickly on top of the truck we arrived on. "That's right, run! You're not ready to actually fight!" The copy of Danny said. I sent another star towards him, but he dodged it once again. "You can't hit me!"

"Man, do you ever shut up?" I yelled while throwing another ball of light. This time, it actually worked, and he smashed into a pile of debris. There was a long wait, and I thought it was over finally. There was silence, but an explosion quickly disrupted it. "You thought you could get rid of me so easily? Well guess again!" The Transformatdaemon said while transforming once again. He morphed into a copy of Lucifilus when the demon first came into him. He had brown, dust-like hair, and his eyes were gray and dead. The copy had insanity in his smile, and a giant scythe was in his grasp. "Are you ready for your final breath air? Take a long one." He evilly said. Eva looked at me in confusion, and said: "What is he?" With a questioning tone. I had totally forgot that they didn't know how Lucifilus was raised. "Don't worry about it, just defeat him!" I yelled while sending a star towards the pile of junk he was on. "Ascendo Flagro!" He yelled at me while he swung his giant scythe in my direction. "Star Bash!" I quickly countered the rising flames that were being sent towards me. The two collided and sent a wave of heat that had a wide radius. The heat wave stopped, and I breathed short breaths, but loud ones. "Your power is something of a mere child, and you know nothing of this World. Lucifilus should be ashamed to make you his host; a worthless excuse like you." The demon persuaded. My mental sanity was finally falling, and I couldn't take it anymore. I could feel Ignatius trying to break me, but I restricted him from my body. "Star…" I said meekly. All my pain was finally coming forth. I lifted my staff high in the air, and grasped it tightly. "Destructo!" I yelled, and a giant ball of red energy formed it of the air around me. My mind was numb, and I smiled at the demon that had wide, scared eyes. "And you thought I was weak!" I stated cleverly. I threw the ball of energy towards the demon, and it broke open the concrete floor as it traveled. He smiled back of me, and lifted his staff into the air. "Twili Barrier!" He yelled while stabbing it towards the ground. A dark shield like a bubble appeared around him, but it had some sort of light to it. It was twilight, a light as dark as midnight, but bright as a summer's day. A blackened light, that makes total sense. The ball of energy smashed into the protection, and there was a great explosion that flew me back a couple of feet. An array of different colors bounced off the ball of light that protected the Transformatdaemon. I had finally lost it, and threw another ball of energy towards him. It pounded into the barrier, and it began to slowly shatter like a mirror. "Rasigna!" I shouted, and a great sphere of matter was released from my staff, towards the demon. He teleported beside me, but with my energy-filled staff, I swung it at his stomach. He buckled over in pain, and looked at me with crazed eyes. "Do it, I dare you." The copy said with a gravel-like voice. "You don't think I could do it?" I wasn't really talking to the copy directly, but to everyone who thinks I cannot kill a person. My father, Chaos, Danny, that truck driver in Arizona, they all doubted my actions. Not anymore. "Just not anymore." I stated, and sent a star towards the face of the copy. There was a high-pitched scream, and I held my ears as I watched the demon's body decomposed. Lucifilus's voice was clear, and he told me the rest of the story when he met Samuel. "We fought our hardest, but it all ended." My vision began to get blurry, and I was back with the sound. The dreaded sound of war.

Samuel was standing on top of a hill with Lucifilus, over-looking the army of demons. They stood there together with calm faces, and I admired them for their bravery. "Are you ready my sir?" Samuel asked formally. I could see that Samuel thought of lucifilus higher then he was, but Lucifilus looked like he felt uncomfortable about the title. "Yes Samuel, what about you?"

"I was always ready."

"I'm going to die here, I hope you know that." Samuel quickly turned his head at Lucifilus who had his eyes closed, and his head down. "Sir?" He looked closely as the color was disappearing from his face. "You heard me right Samuel. I will die today while protecting this world. I would steal away Chaos for the sake of our future."

"But sir, why must you be so destine to sacrifice yourself to protect us? How do you know, acting like a prophet."

"I can see prophecy, I can be time itself."

"Such a confusing subject, time. Some people even believe it doesn't exist, that the gods who created it are using it as a decoy for people to not realize we are under a deep sleep called stasis. This is not true, right Lucifilus sir?"

"Just Lucifilus. You should not submit yourself lower then I. And yes, it's not true what these humans suggest to one another." Lucifilus answered. The multitudes of monsters were quickly approaching, and Samuel got a staff that looked oddly like my own. "Lucifilus?"

"Yes Samuel?"

"Do you fear death like I? The sheer fact that you may die knowing you has protected this world?"

"Death alone I fear Samuel, but when it's for the right cause, then no. I do not fear death."

"Should I fear it?"

"No, you should not. You know as well as I that there's no force in the universe that would, or could kill you. You're stronger then I, yet you put yourself in the position under me. Why? You feel that with this spirit inside of me, I am superior. However, you have to remember that a piece of this spirit came from you." Not entirely true. Since I was Brother Samuel during the time Lucifilus's spirit went inside of him, that means I was the on to purify a piece of the entity before it formed inside of Lucas. "I understand now Lucifilus." Samuel said with half a heart. A loud trumpet roared, and Lucifilus looked at Samuel with determined eyes. Meanwhile, Samuel gave the same look, and nodded at one another.

The vision paused for a short while, but then resumed again on the battlefield while the war raged on. Samuel sent monsters flying left and right, as well as Lucifilus who demolished everything that tried to touch him. A mixture of Latin root words were spoke, including some Greek. "Enough!" A loud voice said from the clouds. Thunder roared as something descended from the sky above. It was wearing a long robe that veiled its identity from me, but I had an idea who the mysterious hooded man was. "Chaos," Lucifilus said. "We finally meet my friend."

"Don't you mean brother?"

"No, you're far from that title. However, I would compliment you on your 999 kill streak!"

"So kind of you to remember! You know the job's open to be the thousandth person to die, and no application is necessary." A dark ball of energy came out of his long sleeves, and moved towards Lucifilus. Lucifilus put away his scythe with his bare hands. It rotated violently, and caused enough friction to melt metal. However, he never let go of the orb. He simply clapped his hands together, and the energy sphere magically vanished. "Impossible." I whispered. Samuel looked at Lucifilus with wide eyes, but he just stood there awaiting the next move Chaos was going to dish out. "You're definitely a whole lot different then your other eleven friends."

"Believe me, I know."

"Yes, you have more confidence… Hmm, this battle is over!" Chaos said while a beam of light shot out towards Lucifilus. It was going so fast that attempting to dodge the beam would be impossible, so he simply closed his eyes and waited for the pain, and possibly, death. There was silence however, and Lucifilus opened his eyes to see Samuel on the floor with his hands on his stomach. Blood croaked out of his moth, and he looked up at Chaos with his teeth barred. "Samuel!" Lucifilus cried out. Samuel raised his hand to tell Lucifilus not to worry. 'Lucifilus, his spirit, the demon inside of you was merely just a prototype for Chaos, you know this right?" Lucifilus nodded, and Samuel smiled. "And the spell Big Bang was used to disperse the darkness of the spirit. Well, you're not the only on who can use it!" Samuel got up, dusted off his clothes from the blood and dirt, and raised his staff high in the air. "No Samuel, don't do this!"

"Lucas, I am using your name because it would be the last time we will see each other. You must not forget me, don't forget your roots; do not forget who you are. Do not forget that we've gotten so far. Don't forget the pain, or try remaining sane. You must fight, and never give up. Seal him, and protect this world." Samuel stated lastly. He turned his head towards Chaos, and a tear rolled down his cheek. He threw down his staff, and it stuck into he ground standing straight up. "Big BANG!" Samuel yelled. A huge explosion occurred, and Lucifilus put up an Astral Barrier before the blast got to him. I could hear Lucifilus's voice begin to narrate the last piece of prophecy. "And the darkness that filled Chaos's heart was released, and him, including I, were sealed away from the world for a thousand years." He foretold. Reality finally came back to me, and I stood over the liquid form of the Transformatdaemon. "Nathan, are you okay?" Eva said while walking to my side. She grabbed my hand tightly, and looked up at me with big eyes. I smiled, a lie I do to the people I love. "Yes I am," again, lying. "I think it's time we finally head out of here. It's depressing me too much." I admitted. I walked off the pile of garbage, and headed into the truck.

It was a four hour drive, and the destruction only got worse as we got closer and closer towards the center, D.C. People were lying on the streets with blood flowing out of their bodies. Cars were on fire, and buildings began to crumble. It was horrible to see, but I couldn't stop to make a scene in front of the public. Instead, I tried to tap into Danny's mental communication like he did with me. "Why Danny, just why?" There was no response, and I smiled for no reason. I guessed I thought that he was afraid of me, but I knew that wasn't the reason for the silence. I looked up into the clouds, and went to a time before all this began. My mind sent me back to the time I was back at Ramona.

"Nathan?" Aaron snapped me out of my daydream. I was lying on the grass my eight-grade year, and it had to be currently lunch for me to be out of class. "What?" I questioned, getting slowly up from the ground. The sun was blinding, and the grass felt like silk that was ripped. "What time is it?"

"Time to go to fifth period! The bell rang like a minute ago, and we have to go to Mrs. Frick's room so she doesn't throw a fit!"

"Okay?" I questioned. I don't remember why I was here, or what I was doing before for that matter. All I could remember was waking up on the grass. Could that whole adventure be a dream? I looked around the halls, nobody except us two. We got into the room with still time left to sit in our desk. I looked, everyone had a yearbook. This must be the day The Twelve revealed themselves to me. It was incredibly strange that time would place me the day of the big event; maybe it wanted me to fix things. I looked outside the room; the fight had already begun. "No strange dream?" I stated to myself. Mrs. Frick walked calmly to her desk, and transformed into her demon right as she sat down. The class continued to work however, and I was the only one freaking out. "Nathaniel Rodriguez, wake up." I heard her say. Her voice was soft and delicate under her razor sharp fangs. "Wake up."

"What, why?"

"You do not want to rewrite history."

"So I am back in time? How did I get here?"

"That mental communication connection worked, and now you're stuck inside Danny's mind as he sleeps."

"You mean this is where Danny is? Stuck in time?"

"Yes, just look." I noticed outside the window was completely black, and was no longer the Ramona scene it used to be. A dark purple light shined brightly, and in the middle of the glow was Danny hung by chains to floating rocks that spread themselves apart so his body would be valuable to any attacks. "Why is he like this?"

"This is the only part of him that is still alive. Chaos has killed his heart, and trapped it in here until he is done with him."

"His heart? You mean a literal term, or just a figurative."

"Who said the heart has to be literal or figurative? But if you do need an explanation, it's his soul."

"Is there anyway to free him?"

"Sadly no. It has to be something Chaos does, or, if he has enough power and strength, he could break himself out. But, as I said before, he's too weak at this point to even stay awake for more then five minutes."

"May I go see him?"

"I would be sad if you didn't." The demon said, and the door opened to the void magically. I looked, and began to walk towards the void.

An explosion occurred in the car, and I jolted upwards to see the truck spinning out. I could hear an insane laughter behind all the screaming the people in the vehicle were making. "Displodo!" I heard a voice echo, followed by another explosion. The word in Latin was appropriately the word 'explode" in English, and I opened up the car door when we stopped spinning around. "It's about time you join me!" Yelled Danny from on top of the White House. Fire was circled around us, and the building was completely torn to its foundation. The curtains that could be seen from her were tattered, and blood dripped from its windows. A dark cloud swirled above Danny's dark, hideous throne that was seated on top of the house, overlooking everything. "Welcome, to your end!"

"Danny, what's wrong with you? Killing all these lives like they're nothing."

"I do what my master commands me to do, and that was the outcome." His voice, so hard and forceful. It's like he was being tortured to be insane. Wait, he was. I saw it with my own two eyes. Him being locked up by that mysterious ray, chained. "Danny, I'm not here to make peace anymore. I gave you that option so many times; too many times." I was not going to be thrown below him. I knew that I was better. "No, not anymore Danny," I began to speak. "I won't let you kill anymore innocent lives. I won't let you trample over them like they're insignificant."

"Really now? Who is going to stop me then Nathan? Certainly not you." My eyes widened, and I threw a star towards the tattered flag he was near. He smiled a wicked smile, and jumped off the White House. Danny landed right in front of me, and kicked towards my stomach. I jumped back of course, and threw a fist with my free hand. "Nice try." He said while grabbing my punch. I gasped quickly, and then he threw me across the pavement. The rocks impaled into my skin, and since I was sliding on my face, blood began to drip down my cheeks. I stopped, and got up slowly from the floor. I whipped the blood from my mouth, and gripped onto my staff as tight as I can. "Is somebody angry?" He said in a sarcastic, annoying tone. Nothing it seemed could penetrate him, almost as if he was invincible. "The only way possible seems to be his spirit. You have to free it Nathan."

"But if I go back to the void, I would be freeing my father!"

"Nathan, I think your father is the least to worry about right now."

"You're right, I would try." I turned towards Eva and the rest of them, and they sort of knew what I was going to say without saying it. "We know." Kelvin said while getting his bag full of various explosives out. I nodded back towards them, and sat down on the floor. To get back to the void wasn't going to be easy, but how to get there was the biggest problem. When I first went into the blackness, it was when I was bathing. Could that soothing relaxation the water was giving off produce such energy for me to travel through dimensions? And why do I hear no sound? I opened my eyes, and saw the emptiness I had created. There was a bright purple light, and Ignatius stood in front of it while the chains were still holding Danny. Ignatius's black staff with a sapphire was gleaming, almost like there was energy in just the staff itself. "Lovely to meet you Daniel."

"What do you want with me?"

"Nothing really, just for your death in response of you resurrecting your so-called king."

"I didn't mean to, I just wanted Nathan to be free."

"Freedom is what he'll be granted with or without you, but what you did gave no freedom to the World. You've opened the gates of the past, and broke the seal. Sure, it was prophecy, but it was prophecy that could have been prevented if you were stronger."

"I'm sorry, I did not know. I thought I was saving this world, but actually, I was corrupting it. I was not lucid on what was going on, and instead, I was ignorant."

"Self-pity would get you nowhere, and if you know what's good for you, you would just accept your fate and die."

"Don't, you, DARE, hurt him!" I yelled. A dark aura was surrounding me in a deep, purple light. I could feel my father being frightened with me, but I didn't mind. "Nathan, could you not see that he is the one who is responsible for this madness? If we don't get rid of him, then Chaos would truly be awakened."

"And I'm going to believe a person who left his family."

"Nathan, I know my past may have gave you false judgment on me, but you need to know that this would change the fate of the world. I'm only trying to protect you."

"WHERE WERE YOU TO PROTECT ME ALMOST HALF MY LIFE? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS CRYING BECAUSE I GOT MY KNEE SCRAPPED WHEN RIDING MY BIKE? WHERE WERE YOU AT MY THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY PARTY? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I HAD BLOOD DRIPPING FROM MY WRIST BECAUSE YOU LEFT ME? WHERE WERE YOU?"

"I was in you all along. Nathan, I don't expect you to forgive me, but to listen."

"I'm through listening you selfish excuse for a father." I threw a star towards Ignatius, but he quickly dodged it. I continually chucked balls of energy towards him, but he seemed to avoid me, and held back his energy. "Fight me, why are you holding back?" I asked while I threw another ball of light. He continued to press on with avoiding me, and not attacking. I grew impatient, and ran towards him with all my speed. He grabbed my head as I tried to press forward, but I was obviously stopped. I have put away my staff now, and tried to punch him with my bare fist. "Why, just why?" I repeated while I fell to the floor. He made no attempt to comfort me, but crouched down besides me as I cried. All the noise made in the void was I sobbing, and I could feel even Danny's eyes turn away at my pain. "I don't want to hurt you my son, I never have." I felt this was actually my father talking, and not the demon inside of him. Could this void bring banish spirits? Even Danny wasn't acting like Chaos. "I was in the dark, and no one was there."

"I was there. I was the long shadow covering you; attempting to comfort you physically, but the demon, OH THE DEMON! It stopped me Nathan, it is what separates us."

"Can't you break it? Can't you break the spell that binds you to this covenant?"

"No, I'm afraid not. But don't worry, I would make this right Nathan."

"I have to release Danny."

"WHAT? NO!" Ignatius got up, and screamed at me. I got up slowly, and looked him dead in the eye. "Why not?"

"Nathan, if Danny's spirit is released, then he would be back in his body."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"You're overlooking something though. If Danny goes back in his body, where's the spirit of Chaos going to go."

"To the next available body it seeks."

"And if there is none?"

"Then it manifests it's own body… Shit."

"Yes, now do you see why I want to kill him? It would make your job easier to kill the restricted Chaos in Danny's body."

"But… Danny." I said. So many thoughts were swerving through my head at a rapid pace. My body began to cringe, and I held my head because some mysterious force was driving pain like nails through it. "Do it, free me Nathan. Free me and feel my true wrath on your pitiful excuse of a planet."

"You're afraid of us Chaos, and you know what…" I started towards Danny's chains while getting my staff. "I WILL DEFEAT YOU WITH HIM!" I released the chains, and the whole void began to disappear.

Danny gripped his head quickly, and began to scream while a dark light slowly came out of him. "Finally, I have been set free to destroy this planet." An evil voice emerged from nowhere. It began to take form, sort of like how a Spirit of the Ancient Order does when it is released from its pod. "Now, face me." A mirror image of me came to shape. Everyone gasped as they looked at Chaos and I stare at each other. "Why are you I?"

"I take the form as the most feared by the releaser of my spirit. This is what you fear Nathan, yourself."

"Either way, you only want to make me kill you a lot quicker!" I yelled while throwing a star towards him. Chaos just smiled, and grabbed the star with his bare hand. The ball of light vanished almost instantly, and smoke rose from his fingertips. "Afraid yet?"

"Far from it." I yelled while running towards him with my staff held high in the air. A shiny, red light glowed at the tip of my ruby, and I jumped in the air high enough to where I could see almost everything. He again smiled, and got a dark scythe in his hand. "Get ready you little fool." He stated while slicing the air towards me. A purple light began to glide towards me, but I countered it with my staff. Arrays of purple and red rays were shining everywhere, and I forced my weight more on the ground. "Solvo!" He stated. Solvo was Latin for release, and the light shattered away while I fell to the floor. I did a back flip, and stuck a perfect landing. "You certainly are ridiculous, you know this right?"

"THAT MAY BE SO!" A new voice said from beyond. I turned around to see a black beam come towards me. I jumped out of the way, and it smashed into Chaos's torso. Ignatius came from the darkness in an alleyway, and nodded at me. "But he's my fool."

"Gee, thanks." I noted. I looked up, and the clouds began to disperse as a light shined brightly above it. The beam stopped, and even Ignatius was looking up at the veiled object in the sky. I looked over at Chaos who had insanity in his eyes, and I felt this was the thing in my vision when I first saw the ball of light racing down towards Earth. "This is it, this is FINALLY it!"

"What is it?"

"The thing that would finally finish the job! The thing that would end humanity forever! It is the Chaos Comet!" A giant rock the size of literally Texas was aimed towards the center of the White House, and it felt like all hope had to be lost. "You…" I stared back at my reflection, Chaos. Anger, pain, emotions beyond stating was flowing through me, and all I could do was just stare at myself as a giant rock drove itself towards the planet. "That comet is designed for one purpose, and one purpose only." Lucifilus began to speak. "It was designed to destroy us."

"Is there anyway to destroy it in time?"

"You would have to kill its core, but even that would take a great amount of energy. It could not be done with just attacking it, a special spell would have to be placed on it."

"I have a bad feeling I know what this spell is."

"Big Bang." Lucifilus and I said together.

"But would the user die?"

"Yes, Nathan. The user of the spell would fall, but he or she would know that they saved their planet. They saved the World from the dark grasp of Chaos."

"Lucifilus… Should I fear death?"

"You already know the answer Nathan." He stated. I smiled at Chaos, and he only looked at me with confused eyes. "What is wrong with you child?" Chaos asked. "Do you not fear me enough yet?"

"No, I don't fear you at all."

"And why is that?"

"Because I know I would destroy you. Prophecy is finally being fulfilled Chaos, and you cannot stop your own demise. This is where it ends… Tele-"

"TELEPORT!" I heard a voice say. It was Lucifilus, and suddenly two people left but it was not I. Looking around, I could see who finally had been teleported to the comet's core with Chaos. "Lucifilus, no." Danny.

"What? What is this?" Chaos asked while looking around the rock. All he could see was a fiery shield that was formed when the giant comet entered the Earth's atmosphere. Danny looked at the core; a green ball of rock that pulsed like a heartbeat. "This is where we began Chaos, this is where it ends." The void where Chaos put himself into Danny was not blackness, but it was the comet. "You have given a false-prophecy, and lied to yourself 'master'."

"You, you caused this! You dare turn your back on me! You'll rue the day you say you're part of The New Twelve Order! I will, OH I WILL DESTORY YOU!"

"No Chaos, not today." Danny began to say. He placed his hand on the comet's core, and smiled into its green glow. "You know, when I was in the void, flashbacks of the fight you had with Lucifilus occurred. I remember that one move; I remember it so clearly. Constituo Ferio." Translated, it meant the spell Big Bang. "No, you're not thinking."

"Yes, Chaos, I am thinking. Finally I am thinking clearly, and I see the darkness of my ways." A tear ran across down Danny's face, and he closed his eyes because he knew. He knew that his time would come, and finally be done with. "Nathan, forgive me." He stated.

There was an explosion in the sky, and I fell to my knees crying. "Why Danny, why did it have to be him? Why didn't you send me up there instead Lucifilus, just why?" I sobbed. Rocks started to fly down to the ground like firework sparks. I could see the body of Danny falling down with smoke rising from his body. "Lucifilus… Why?"

We were back in The Library. A melancholy mood slowly motioned towards the people around the body of the true hero. He was wrapped in a fine, white robe, and his skin was glowing. "He looks so peaceful." Eva suggested. There was a smile on his face, almost like he was finally satisfied with what he did. Lexi sobbed next to me, and I couldn't help but join her. He was always there, even though he left. "Lucifilus, there has to be a way to bring him back. There just has to."

"Nathan, I'm afraid the Big Bang spell has no take backs. I'm sorry." Lucifilus apologized for something he couldn't prevent. I placed my hand on Danny's chest, and bended down on one knee. "Danny, I know you could hear me. I know you could see me. I know you can feel my hand on your heart. Please, just wake up." I pleaded. Danny didn't seem to listen, and I lost hope for a second. "Wake up, wake up…"

"Na-Nathan…" I heard a voice whisper. I looked up, and saw the smile on Danny's face even wider then ever. I smiled, and hugged him quickly with so much emotion. Tears of joy were rolling down all of our faces, and I was the one sobbing the most. "You're alive… You're really alive…" A huge explosion occurred behind us, and interrupted the mood we were in. "DADDY'S HOME!" Ignatius yelled while he threw a dark ball of energy towards us. It was spiraling towards us, but… that story is for another day…

The End…

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